M3(1) Gender, Sexuality, and Colonialism

Coloniality of Power

A term coined by sociologist Anibal Quijano that describes how the structures of racial hierarchy, economic exploitation, and knowledge dominance established during European colonialism persist today

• Tied into global capitalism, driven by extractive, exploitative Western nations (mostly European: England, Belgium, France, Spain, Portugal) from 15th century onwards

Colonialism

the political and administrative control of one territory by another

Coloniality

the underlying pattern of power, culture, and hierarchy left behind that continues to structure the modern world

Colonial/Modern Gender System

A framework by María Lugones that aims to expand Quijano’s concept of Coloniality of Power

• Integrates and highlights gender as a tool of colonization

Colonial/Modern Gender System Theoretical ideas

1. Universal classification

2. Gender is a colonial concept

3. Heterosexualism is a tool of colonization

4. Intersectionality produced violent subordinations

5. Coloniality permeated all aspects of society

Universal Classification

The coloniality of power and the global capitalist system of power have led to the universal classification of people and knowledge according to hegemonic European gender ideologies

Gender is a tool of colonization

Gender is a colonial concept and violently constructed colonial modes of organization, relations of production, property relations, and ways of knowing

Heterosexualism is a tool of colonization

Heterosexualism was a key part of colonial power and Eurocentered capitalism

• constructed colonial modes of organization, relations of production, property relations, and ways of knowing

Intersectionality produced violent subordinations

Intersectionality of heterosexuality, capitalism, and racial classifications produced violent subordinations and are impossible to understand apart from each other

Coloniality permeated all aspects of society

Coloniality permeated all aspects of social existence and gave rise to new dominant and subordinate social and geocultural identities

Lugones’ Argument

Gender, particularly the European system was a violent and imposed concept

Pre-Colonial Context

Before colonization, many cultures had strong roles for women. Some were matriarchal or ginocracies

• Based on women’s power, lineage, knowledge

• Acceptance of two-spirit people (individuals who embody both a masculine and feminine spirit)

• These societies were often devastated by the destruction of women’s traditional roles (keepers of knowledge, medicine, social/spiritual life)

European Gender Norms

In part based on hunter-gatherer society model (men hunt, women gather/care for children)

Colonial Administration

Imposed gendered distinctions related to property ownership, inheritance, and societal roles, which often did not suit existing Indigenous organizational modes

Sexual Violence

Significant aspect of colonization was widespread sexual violence against colonized women and men

Tracing Violence (Lugones)

Lugones observed contemporary violence within racialized communities (men violating women) and sought to explain it with the profound psychic, social, and economic devastation inflicted by colonization

Intersectionality and Gendered Subordination

Lugones investigated the intersection of race, class, gender, and sexuality to understand violence against women of colour (from men of colour)

• Two-fold Process

Two Fold Process

For colonized women, colonization was a two-fold process

1. Violated and subordinated due to their race

2. Violated and subordinated due to their gender (colonists placed racialized women at the lowest rung, even lower than racialized men)

Invention of Race

Lugones argues that the concept of race is an invention of European colonialism (pg. 190)

• Served to classify the global population, replacing traditional relations of superiority/inferiority with fictional biological terms, thus justifying domination, subordination, and violence

Pathologizing Indigenous People

Colonizers often pathologized or imagined Indigenous people as hermaphrodites/intersex, surgically and hormonally “correcting” them to fit a strict binary, despite prior recognition in many tribal societies

• Naturalizing sexual differences was a product of modern science used to enforce the gender binary

The Light and Dark Side

The colonial/modern gender system operated via two distinct facets:

• Light Side

• Dark Side

Light Side

Applied to white/colonizing women. They were expected to fit strict, "civilized" gender roles (like being passive, fragile homemakers).

Dark Side

Applied to colonized and Indigenous people. They were stripped of their own traditional understandings of gender, dehumanized, and subjected to extreme violence.

Amnesty International

Tracks human rights issues globally, working to empower human rights defenders and monitor laws and policies

Amnesty International Report: Contemporary Legacies of Colonialism

Key Finding: Many current anti-LGBTI laws are a direct legacy of colonialism and racial domination

• Imposition of Heteronormativity

• Ongoing Economic and Political Devastation

• Contemporary Colonialism

Imposition of Heteronormativity

Colonial powers corrected diverse practices outside the two-sex/gender binary

• Heterosexuality and rigid gender binaries were imposed as norms for “civilized nations”

• Non-compliance was deemed “sexually perverse, a sign of backwardness, and svagery”

• Methods of enforcement included laws, policing, medicine, literature, and education

Ongoing Economic and Political Devastation

The extraction of natural resources by colonists from the 1500s-1800s caused widespread economic and political devastation in colonized nations

• This devastation continues to shape LGBTI rights today, perpetuating ideas of “backwardness” and “perversion”

Fundamentalist

Describes a person, movement, or stance characterized by a strict, uncompromising adherence to a set of basic, unchanging principles or foundational beliefs

Contemporary Colonialism

Western nations and fundamentalist religious groups often fund anti-LGBTI policies in other countries (e.g. Africa)

• This influence often tied to loans or business interests, demonstrates that colonialism is still happening and actively impacts gender and sexuality

• Result: persistent discrimination, marginalization, criminalization, violence, imprisonment, and killings against LGBTI individuals globally

Geographical Scope

While we mainly focus on the Americas and Africa, there exists colonial projects in places like Asia (e.g. India, Indonesia) and Australia