Genocide, Necropolitics and Anti-Homosexuality in Uganda: Sociological and Critical Analysis

This paper discusses how the Anti-Homosexuality Act of 2023 in Uganda relates to concepts of genocide and necropolitics. The author has previously published an article in the Journal of Genocide Research in 2018, which related the concept genocide to earlier anti-homosexual processes in Uganda. Since then, certain leading activist voices associated with the Ugandan LGBTI+ movement have invoked ideas such as early warning signs of genocide in their public statements. Meanwhile the concept genocide has become used by certain actors in LGBTI+ politics in Western contexts such as the United Kingdom and in the United States. Analysis of genocide in relation to sexualities and genders, including homosexuality but also wider conceptual frames, has expanded through published contributions. Yet the relationship between the conceptualisation of genocide and Mbembe's concept necropolitics lacks adequate discussion in such respects. This paper will discuss the relationship between theoretical conceptualisations of genocide and of necropolitics as these relate to anti-homosexuality, including consideration of how the sociology of genocide and sociological consideration of necropolitics can contribute to analysis. Methodologically the paper will proceed through examining Uganda's Anti-Homosexuality Act 2023 and responses and resistances to it, including in online media comments from leading Ugandan LGBTI+ activists and commentators. Implications in African and global contexts can be considered.