(University of the Western Cape, 2022) Awori, Nancy Judith; Shefer, Tamara
This research analyzes the depiction of black Kenyan lesbians in contemporary Kenyan films. In order to do so, I focus on the film Rafiki by Wanuri Kahiu, a 2018 Kenyan drama film that documents the story of romance that grows between two young women amidst family and political pressure around lesbian gay bisexual trans intersex and queer (LGBTIQ+) rights in Kenya. The film speaks to issues of intersectional subjectivity and diverse ways of what it is to identify across different social categories, a woman, a lesbian, a Kenyan and specifically black Kenyan.