ABSTRACT

This article advances the conceptualisation of conversations on state-building by examining gendered discourses. By focusing on specific historical moments in Rwanda and Kenya, this article analyses how ‘respectable femininities’ and ‘wayward sexualities’ become the ‘sites’ where national and state politics are ritualised and where tensions resulting from non-hegemonic performances of both gender and sexuality are resolved. I argue that by examining sites of gendered cultural production, it is possible to trace how gendered tensions are enacted through localised practices and discursive mechanisms deployed to manage political differences and build solidarity within heterogeneous groups. The ritualisation and creation of ethno-national homogeneity as part of state-building conversations occurs at the expense of greater freedoms for women. Fundamentally this article posits that gendered cultural and traditional norms are essential sites from which to map state-building conversations and should not be cordoned off to the realm of social and therefore excluded from the political.

摘要

本文通过研究性别话语来推进关于国家建设的对话的概念化。通过关注卢旺达和肯尼亚的特定历史时刻，本文分析了“受人尊敬的女性气质”和“任性的性行为”如何成为国家和国家政治被仪式化的“场所”，以及性别和性行为的非霸权表现所导致的紧张局势。得到解决。我认为，通过检查性别文化生产的场所，可以追溯性别紧张是如何通过本地化实践和为管理政治差异和在异质群体中建立团结而部署的话语机制产生的。作为国家建设对话的一部分，民族-民族同质性的仪式化和创造是以牺牲女性更大的自由为代价的。