Towards 'queering' gender within theology and development discourse

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This thesis reports on a study undertaken within Theology and Development with afocus on health and gender. Health, in this thesis, was not merely understood from abiomedical perspective, but defined in terms of the holistic wellbeing of Lesbian,Gay, Bisexual, Trans, Intersex, Queer (LGBTIQ) persons with varying sexualorientations and gender identities. In the light of contextual phenomena such as the'corrective' rape of gays and lesbians, the notion that homosexuality is considered tobe 'un-African', and the churches' response to homosexuality within South Africa,this study will attempt to utilise queer theory and queer theology 'queery' Gender andDevelopment (GAD) scholars within Theology and Development. The currentunderstanding of the GAD approach within Theology and Development discoursewas argued to make use of the heterogendered binary and, as a result, is notinclusive of LGBTIQ identities as a discursive theme. Gender, in this thesis, is considered a socio-historical construct and it is argued that it expands across many cultures. This understanding of gender opens up a discussion on subjectivity and looks at how the subject is utilized within discursive practice. The thesis concurs with Feminist scholars who argue that language does not only communicate the link between one's sex and one's gender identity; but that it also constitutes that link. Michel Foucault's framework of power and how it is used to regulate discourses together with Judith Butler's work on performativity provide a valuable point of departure for queer theory and queer theology as the hermeneutical lenses utilised in this thesis. A brief literature survey is conducted concerning gendered subjectivities within development discourses within the social sciences. The historical movements of Women in Development (WID), Women and Development (WAD) and Gender and Development (GAD) were explored within development discourse with the purpose of highlighting some of the reasons for the historical inclusion of certain subjects and the exclusion of others within the discursive practice in particular. The most recent movement, GAD, is shown to have been critiqued for mainly utilizing 'gender' as a code word for 'women'. There is a discursive shift within development discourses within the social sciences that has gone on to queery development discourses and advocate for the inclusion of sexual minorities as a discursive theme. Through agencies such as SIDA (Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency), sexuality was highlighted to also have links within a multi perspectival understanding of poverty. Finally, a thematic networks analysis coupled with the lenses of queer theory and queer theology, were conducted on seven articles that could possibly be related to the emerging field of Theology and Development. The thesis argues that the current use of heterogendered binary as an 'informant of theologising on gender is indicative of the fact that some of the Theology and development articles that are analysed here have not yet made a discursive shift to include LGBTIQ persons as a discursive theme. Indecent theology is recommended for future research as a queer theological tool to incorporate epistemological considerations of those on the sexual margins and thereby confronting heterosexist theologising within Theology and Development.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University