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Black Queer Joy On Spiritual Embodiment and Human Sexuality: The Case of Ubungoma/Ubugqirha
Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2026.
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
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Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University
2026
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| _version_ | 1867613816992301056 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Ndungane, Zwelidumile Nojenda |
| author2 | Majombozi, Ziyanda |
| author_browse | Majombozi, Ziyanda Ndungane, Zwelidumile Nojenda |
| author_facet | Majombozi, Ziyanda Ndungane, Zwelidumile Nojenda |
| author_sort | Ndungane, Zwelidumile Nojenda |
| collection | Thesis |
| dc_rights_str_mv | Stellenbosch University |
| description | Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2026. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/136112 |
| institution | Stellenbosch University (South Africa) |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:42:09.814Z |
| license_str | Other — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from SUNScholar — Stellenbosch University Repository |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| publishDateRange | 2026 |
| publishDateSort | 2026 |
| publisher | Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| publisherStr | Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | SUNScholar — Stellenbosch University Repository |
| spelling | oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/136112 Black Queer Joy On Spiritual Embodiment and Human Sexuality: The Case of Ubungoma/Ubugqirha Ndungane, Zwelidumile Nojenda Majombozi, Ziyanda Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Sociology and Social Anthropology. Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2026. Ndungane, Z. N. 2026. Black Queer Joy On Spiritual Embodiment and Human Sexuality: The Case of Ubungoma/Ubugqirha. Unpublished masters thesis. Stellenbosch: Stellenbosch University [online]. Available: https://scholar.sun.ac.za/items/36cdb343-043a-4cc5-af2c-c9d9ea8357da This dissertation looks at Black Queer Joy as an epistemological and conceptual framework, through the spiritual practice of ubungoma/ubugqirha among queer sangomas in South African townships, particularly Soweto. Moving beyond trauma-centric narratives that have long dominated African queer studies, this work foregrounds joy not as an antithesis to suffering but as an everyday mode of survival and knowledge production. Through a combination of semi-structured interviews, ethnographic storytelling, and textual analysis of cultural media such as season three of the television show Umndeni and Zandile Nkabinde’s autobiography Black Bull, Ancestors and Me, the study articulates how queer sangomas navigate their sexuality and spirituality in ways that unsettle Western binaries of joy/suffering, sacred/profane, modern/traditional, and heterosexual/queer. Drawing on scholars such as Matebeni, Macharia, Nyanzi and Tamale, this dissertation conceptualizes Black Queer Joy as both a decolonial stance and a queer temporal practice. It argues that sangomas inhabit nonlinear timelines shaped by ancestral memory, visions, and rituals, disrupting chrononormative assumptions and asserting alternative queer temporalities rooted in African cosmologies. Methodologically, the work employs storytelling as both method and theory, emphasizing the importance of centering mundane, vernacular experiences as critical sites of theorization. In so doing, it insists that queer African lives are not peripheral to knowledge, but are in themselves archives of sacred and subversive wisdom. Ultimately, this dissertation calls for a rethinking of spirituality and sexual temporality within African queer studies by centering joy as a radical and deeply political way of being in the world. Masters 2026-04-22T12:39:11Z 2026-04-22T12:39:11Z 2026-03 Thesis https://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/136112 en Stellenbosch University 123 pages application/pdf Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| spellingShingle | Ndungane, Zwelidumile Nojenda Black Queer Joy On Spiritual Embodiment and Human Sexuality: The Case of Ubungoma/Ubugqirha |
| title | Black Queer Joy On Spiritual Embodiment and Human Sexuality: The Case of Ubungoma/Ubugqirha |
| title_full | Black Queer Joy On Spiritual Embodiment and Human Sexuality: The Case of Ubungoma/Ubugqirha |
| title_fullStr | Black Queer Joy On Spiritual Embodiment and Human Sexuality: The Case of Ubungoma/Ubugqirha |
| title_full_unstemmed | Black Queer Joy On Spiritual Embodiment and Human Sexuality: The Case of Ubungoma/Ubugqirha |
| title_short | Black Queer Joy On Spiritual Embodiment and Human Sexuality: The Case of Ubungoma/Ubugqirha |
| title_sort | black queer joy on spiritual embodiment and human sexuality the case of ubungoma ubugqirha |
| url | https://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/136112 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT ndunganezwelidumilenojenda blackqueerjoyonspiritualembodimentandhumansexualitythecaseofubungomaubugqirha |