From sexual rights to a 'queer' approach: an examination of the politics of sexuality in Ghana
Supervisors: Martin Rew and Emma Foster
My research is concerned with sexuality as a ‘development issue’. It adopts a broad understanding of sexuality, to encompass gender, sexual health, reproduction, sex education, intimacy and same-sex sexualities. Following Foucault, it understands sexuality as a key site of power relations and seeks to understand how different discourses – religious, political, developmental – imbricate to shape and construct sexual experience. It is further concerned with questions of personhood, identity and ‘embodiment’, and how these relate to the materiality of sex and power.
I am equally interested in concepts of sexual rights and sexual citizenship, and exploring what these might mean in different country contexts, namely Ghana. In so doing, I aim to take a queer approach to the study of Ghanaian sexual politics that destablises heteronormative models of gender and sexuality and privileges the view from ‘the margins’. I also apply this queer lens critically to current development discourse on sexual rights, aid conditionality and the globalisation of ‘LGBT’ identity.
Profile
Prior to joining IDD I spent two years as a VSO volunteer in northern Ghana, working for the local government in community development. I also have previous experience as a policy researcher in the UK voluntary sector.
I am on a ESRC +3 funded scholarship.
Qualifications
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BA History and French
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University of Leeds
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MSc International Development, University of Birmingham
Research interests
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Concepts of sexual rights and sexual citizenship in development theory and practice
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Poststructualist theorising on sexuality, discourse and power relations
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‘Queering’ development and the globlisation of ‘LGBT’ rights
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Masculinities and femininities
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Religion, sexuality and development
Contact:
Email: exg151@bham.ac.uk