(Re)storing and (Re)storying Men with Broken Wrists: Using Intsomi as Critical Fabulation to Refute the Notion of Queerness as un-African

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dc.contributor.advisorMtshali, Mbongeni
dc.contributor.advisorMbothwe, Mandla
dc.contributor.authorNyezi, Freddy Junior Sikhanyiso
dc.date.accessioned2026-01-14T13:47:27Z
dc.date.available2026-01-14T13:47:27Z
dc.date.issued2025
dc.date.updated2026-01-14T13:38:23Z
dc.description.abstractMy research attempts to challenge the contemporary perception of homosexuality as “un-African”. This misconception is often grounded in the perceived absence of queer people of colour from the “archive” of black African (hi)stories that shape our collective understandings of who is and who is not properly “African”. Given that what we do know of how gender is conceived among African societies comes to us predominantly via the colonial archive with all its attendant elisions and lacunae, there is a strong case to be made for treating these histories and the authority they assume in defining our contemporary politics of belonging with some scepticism. Accordingly, I (re)turn to the archive of indigenous African folktales as a means to challenge cultural myths of queer black (un)belonging. In my final thesis project, I take the Xhosa ntsomi (folktale) seriously as a mode of producing and transmitting cultural knowledge and appropriate its formal aesthetics to create queer speculative fictions/myths that subvert neocolonial heteropatriarchy and the attempted erasure of black queer personhood from the story of Africa. Using the culturally embedded formal and narrative tropes of intsomi alongside techniques of biomythography and critical fabulations to queer the neocolonial archive, I work to “(re)store” and “(re)story” black queer African personhood, affirming its complicated place in African society and the visions of freedom and belonging animated by our shared histories of anti-/decolonial struggle.
dc.identifier.apacitationNyezi, F. J. S. (2025). <i>(Re)storing and (Re)storying Men with Broken Wrists: Using Intsomi as Critical Fabulation to Refute the Notion of Queerness as un-African</i>. (). University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Centre for Film and Media Studies. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/11427/42579en_ZA
dc.identifier.chicagocitationNyezi, Freddy Junior Sikhanyiso. <i>"(Re)storing and (Re)storying Men with Broken Wrists: Using Intsomi as Critical Fabulation to Refute the Notion of Queerness as un-African."</i> ., University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Centre for Film and Media Studies, 2025. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/42579en_ZA
dc.identifier.citationNyezi, F.J.S. 2025. (Re)storing and (Re)storying Men with Broken Wrists: Using Intsomi as Critical Fabulation to Refute the Notion of Queerness as un-African. . University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Centre for Film and Media Studies. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/42579en_ZA
dc.identifier.ris TY - Thesis / Dissertation AU - Nyezi, Freddy Junior Sikhanyiso AB - My research attempts to challenge the contemporary perception of homosexuality as “un-African”. This misconception is often grounded in the perceived absence of queer people of colour from the “archive” of black African (hi)stories that shape our collective understandings of who is and who is not properly “African”. Given that what we do know of how gender is conceived among African societies comes to us predominantly via the colonial archive with all its attendant elisions and lacunae, there is a strong case to be made for treating these histories and the authority they assume in defining our contemporary politics of belonging with some scepticism. Accordingly, I (re)turn to the archive of indigenous African folktales as a means to challenge cultural myths of queer black (un)belonging. In my final thesis project, I take the Xhosa ntsomi (folktale) seriously as a mode of producing and transmitting cultural knowledge and appropriate its formal aesthetics to create queer speculative fictions/myths that subvert neocolonial heteropatriarchy and the attempted erasure of black queer personhood from the story of Africa. Using the culturally embedded formal and narrative tropes of intsomi alongside techniques of biomythography and critical fabulations to queer the neocolonial archive, I work to “(re)store” and “(re)story” black queer African personhood, affirming its complicated place in African society and the visions of freedom and belonging animated by our shared histories of anti-/decolonial struggle. DA - 2025 DB - OpenUCT DP - University of Cape Town KW - Intsomi KW - mystoriography KW - critical fabulation KW - Postmemory KW - archive KW - repertoire KW - queer KW - African KW - (re)store KW - (re)story LK - https://open.uct.ac.za PB - University of Cape Town PY - 2025 T1 - (Re)storing and (Re)storying Men with Broken Wrists: Using Intsomi as Critical Fabulation to Refute the Notion of Queerness as un-African TI - (Re)storing and (Re)storying Men with Broken Wrists: Using Intsomi as Critical Fabulation to Refute the Notion of Queerness as un-African UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11427/42579 ER - en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11427/42579
dc.identifier.vancouvercitationNyezi FJS. (Re)storing and (Re)storying Men with Broken Wrists: Using Intsomi as Critical Fabulation to Refute the Notion of Queerness as un-African. []. University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Centre for Film and Media Studies, 2025 [cited yyyy month dd]. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/42579en_ZA
dc.language.isoen
dc.language.rfc3066eng
dc.publisher.departmentCentre for Film and Media Studies
dc.publisher.facultyFaculty of Humanities
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Cape Town
dc.subjectIntsomi
dc.subjectmystoriography
dc.subjectcritical fabulation
dc.subjectPostmemory
dc.subjectarchive
dc.subjectrepertoire
dc.subjectqueer
dc.subjectAfrican
dc.subject(re)store
dc.subject(re)story
dc.title(Re)storing and (Re)storying Men with Broken Wrists: Using Intsomi as Critical Fabulation to Refute the Notion of Queerness as un-African
dc.typeThesis / Dissertation
dc.type.qualificationlevelMasters
dc.type.qualificationlevelMasters
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