None on Record
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Founded by Selly Thiam, a Senegalese-American lesbian living in the United States in 2006, None on Record is a digital media organization working with African LGBT communities across the African continent and the diaspora.[1] They are committed to telling stories about queer Africans, aiming to change the narrative about transgender, queer and gender nonconforming Africans via high-quality digital media and storytelling. The organization curates and convenes spaces that center queer African stories and provides tools, training, and techniques to queer African activists, organizations and community groups, enabling them to tell their own stories.
History[edit]
Selly Thiam’s motivation to start the oral history project that served as the foundation for None on Record was the 2004 murder of FannyAnn Eddy, an LGBT activist from Sierra Leone, in the offices of the Sierra Leone Lesbian and Gay Association. To honor Eddy’s memory, Thiam began collecting the oral histories of over 350 LGBT Africans around the world.
None on Record’s name is derived from an interview Thiam did with ex-priest and gay Nigerian activist John Adewoye.[2] When Thiam asked him whether there were any words in his mother tongue, Yoruba to describe LGBT people, he answered that he had “none on record.” For Selly Thiam, “that moment in the interview personified the level of silence around African LGBT issues.”
In 2012, None on Record opened its office in Nairobi, Kenya to work with media and LGBT organizations across Africa and support them in challenging the limiting and stereotypical narratives typically circulated about LGBT Africans. While local media often ignores or vilifies LGBT communities, foreign reporters create an image of LGBT Africans as passive victims of homophobic acts and policies.
None on Record’s community partnerships allow for the production of high-quality digital media about LGBT communities. They carry out training to support other organisations’ digital media needs and produce media for campaigns and documentaries. They have conducted interviews and training workshops in Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya, South Africa, Botswana, Tanzania, Burundi, Senegal, the UK and throughout the United States and Canada.
Past Projects[edit]
International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia (IDAHOT)
In 2014 for IDAHOT, None on Record released a crowd-sourced project documenting the everyday lives of LGBT Africans on the continent and abroad.
The following year, in 2015, None on Record produced a series of interviews with queer individuals in Nairobi about growing up LGBT in Africa. According to Thiam, the series combats homophobia and transphobia by including
“not only activists but people who are working in different professions and are out and proud”.[3]
Arts and Culture Programmes[edit]
None on Record offers year-round arts and cultural programming in different countries in sub-Saharan Africa. These events help expand the cultural space for queer Africans and allow for various modes of expression and safe environments for the consumption of LGBT art and culture.
Kiki in Kenya[edit]
Kiki is an underground culture reimagined and practiced by the Ishtar Dolls, a community of gender nonconforming performers who have embraced and Kenyanized kiki, a sub-culture of voguing, as part of their engagement with global black cultural resistance. This project is part of None on Record’s ongoing exploration of how film, fashion, and photography can shift the narrative around queerness.[4]
The Tamasha Festival[edit]
The Tamasha Festival is dedicated to celebrating the diversity of African artists and music by showcasing talent from the African diaspora, showcasing the various sounds and genres that shape modern African music, from Afrobeats to Kwaito.
Queer African Lookbook[edit]
The Queer African Lookbook uses fashion and photography to document the unique intersection of queer and African identities. The lookbook is a collection of stylized portraits of change-makers, and the history of queer movements in East, West and Southern Africa.[5]
AfroQueer Podcast[edit]
AfroQueer is a podcast telling the stories of queer Africans from across the continent and diaspora. The podcast celebrates queer love, and explores the laws affecting our lives, migration, media, race, class, censorship, family and sex. The podcast sheds a spotlight on individuals shifting the landscape of African queerness.[6] Since airing their first episode on 13 October 2018, the AfroQueer Podcast has released four seasons and 30 episodes to date.
References[edit]
- ↑ "About None on Record". None on Record. Retrieved October 7, 2022.
- ↑ "FAQ". None on Record. Retrieved October 7, 2022.
- ↑ "Growing Up LGBT In East Africa". OkayAfrica. Retrieved October 7, 2022.
- ↑ "Kiki in Kenya". None on Record. Retrieved October 7, 2022.
- ↑ "Queer African Lookbook". None on Record. Retrieved October 7, 2022.
- ↑ "AfroQueer Podcast". AfroQueer Podcast. Retrieved October 7, 2022.
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