The Queer Global South: Transnational Video Activism Between China and Africa

Bao, Hongwei

Abstract

This chapter examines grassroots cinematic connections and video activism between China and Africa by taking the Queer University as a case study. Through semi-structured online interviews with some Queer University organisers and participants in 2020, in tandem with textural analysis of the videos produced during the workshop, the chapter discusses the transnational politics and decolonial potentials underpinning these grassroots initiatives. Drawing on Françoise Lionnet and Shu-mei Shih (2005)'s critical term ‘minor transnationalism, ’ the chapter explores the hopes and promises of emerging people-to-people exchanges taking place in the Global South – with a particular focus on the activities, events, experiences and encounters between queer Chinese and African activists in this emergent queer space. This is significant considering neither the Chinese state bureaucracy nor African governments are known to be empathetic and sympathetic to the lived experiences of LGBTQIA communities (including other minorities) in both China and on the African continent.

Citation

Bao, H. (2025). The Queer Global South: Transnational Video Activism Between China and Africa. In H. Bao, & D. H. Mutibwa (Eds.), Entanglements and Ambivalences: Africa and China Encounters in Media and Culture (235-259). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003581949-14

• Publication Date: Feb 18, 2025
• Deposit Date: Nov 15, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Aug 19, 2026
• Publisher: Routledge
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Pages: 235-259
• Book Title: Entanglements and Ambivalences: Africa and China Encounters in Media and Culture
• Chapter Number: 11
• ISBN: 9781032948362
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003581949-14
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/41953088
• Publisher URL: https://www.routledge.com/Entanglements-and-Ambivalences-Africa-and-China-Encounters-in-Media-and-Culture/Bao-Mutibwa/p/book/9781032948362?srsltid=AfmBOopSDiitYahMKc6LQCF-Aag1XOJuz6p84QzPmVLzlmBnPM6_10P0
• Contract Date: Sep 30, 2024