The Entanglements of Race, Gender and Sexuality: South African Indian Contradictions
Durban South African Indian people exhibit heteronormative attitudes toward gender and sexuality. In this talk, Braedon Steven argues that the racialization of Durban South African Indians, shaped by British colonialism, is central to understanding these conservative views.
The migration of British colonial ideals enforced, precisely, Christian Victorian-era attitudes towards gender and sexuality from the former “Indian colonies” to the colonized South Africa in 1858, entangled with the racialization of South African Indians. The Christian-Victorian norms on gender and sexuality imposed by colonial powers were carried over, influencing the conservative attitudes that characterize Durban’s South African Indian identity.
The entanglement of racialization and its impact on gender and sexuality norms is imperative to explain the community’s conservatism and its effects on people, both those who conform and those who do not.