South African Review of Sociology

Risk and resilience among Black queer people in South Africa and the United States

Aim, Scope, and Focus of the Special Issue 

Current research and public discourse on sexuality and gender diversity suggests that queerphobia remains a challenge across racial groups, socioeconomic status, age, and other aspects of identity. However, Black queer people are a particularly more at-risk community for experiencing queerphobia and transphobia, regardless of where they are in the world. In this Special Issue (SI) of the South African Review of Sociology, we seek to bring together scholarly and other contributions that recognise and extend the current literature and debates on the everyday lived experiences of Black queer people within two diverse contexts: 1) the global south context of South Africa and 2) the global north context of the United States of America (US). While we acknowledge that challenges and risks persist, this SI foregrounds resilience to illuminate a distinctive perspective that Black queer people, across different age groups and social class statuses, are not simply vulnerable, marginalised, and victimised groups without capacity for resistance and agency. This SI focuses on how resilience is conceptualised, expressed, and experienced among Black queer people in the two specific countries. 

Drawing on various methodological, theoretical and research approaches, the SI invites various types of contributions (e.g., articles, essays, book reviews, discussions, etc) that explore different aspects around resilience, from the lens of the lived experiences and perspectives of Black queer people in the two countries. This call is open to scholars, activists, artists, practitioners, researchers, and others working in the fields of sexualities and queer studies, sociology, social work, women’s and gender studies, psychology, arts and other related fields in South Africa and in the US. We are interested in how interventions or strategies towards addressing some of the existing challenges of queer- and transphobia should be (re)designed or developed (and by whom) so that they become more effective in achieving the objectives of building and strengthening resilience. We seek contributions that address ways of fostering resilience, inclusivity, equality, and justice for Black queer people across the two socio-economically and culturally diverse countries. Contributions that exclusively focus on risks and violence will not be considered. We invite contributors to engage with the following and other related topics: 

•     Existence and resistance as resilience
•     Different forms and manifestations of resilience
•     Minority strengths theory
•     Advancing gender and sexual diversity rights and social justice 
•     Coping strategies and mechanisms amid the contexts of queer- and transphobia 
•        Resistance through/in media
•     Resisting injustices
•     Challenging queer-and transphobia 
•     Queer-and transphobia management strategies
•     Surviving stigma and victimization
•     Managing and coping with gender and sexual minority stress
•     Coping experiences of Black queer people in South Africa and the US
•     Understandings and perspectives on resilience
•     Limitations of resiliency