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Title: Tina Machida in Zimbabwe Reference: Director, Robbie Hart; producers, Robbie
Hart & Luc Côté. Abstract: In Zimbabwe, Tina Machida is fighting for the rights of gays and lesbians despite death threats and a president who calls homosexuals “dogs and pigs.” At eighteen, her parents had her raped to change her ways, but Tina has fought on. Library of Congress subjects: Sociology subjects: Reviews and Numerical Ratings (3) This video is a testimonial narrative given by a woman who spearheads a Lesbian and Gay social movement in Zimbabwe. The first time I viewed it, I was taken in by the emotion of witnessing her narrative. The opening scene where Mugabe delivers his famous “dogs and pigs” speech works to engage the viewer to sympathize with the need to fight for L&G rights in Zimbabwe. Upon second viewing, I was more critical of the ways in which liberalism, individuality, gender, race, culture, and sexuality were represented in problematic and stereotypical ways. So…on the one hand this powerful testimonial convincingly argues that consciousness-raising remains a powerful tool for seeking social gains. On the other, be prepared to discuss the positioning of African countries as a place between pre-modern and modern (the primitive trope is close to the surface - opening scene especially graphic), the conflation of sexual violence with lesbianism (TM’s parents arrange to have her raped to fix her/their problem), the trope of the Black male rapist (guess who does the job?), and the normalized ‘different culture’ social relation of the Other and gender relations (TM’s non-sexual, publicly-acknowledged relationship with a married man – her ‘protector’). I would still use this video in classes that take up issues of social movements and Lesbian and Gay rights, but would make use of it as a theoretical tool to interrogate the production of knowledge and social movements. Doreen Fumia (2) An inherently interesting topic, but disappointing as a video. Obviously raises issues, and so could be useful, but slow moving and really nothing special. Follows Tina as she tries to get a campaign off the ground. No narration or explicit theorizing. Brian Fuller (3) This video shows the struggles and bravery of a woman who fights for the rights of gays and lesbians. She mobilizes a collaborative movement through activism, advocating, and public speaking. It was seen how she made some minor progress insofar as spreading awareness, organizing a gay march, and forming a supportive community for homosexuals. But there remain great obstacles for her to overcome concerning equality for gays and lesbians. The video portrays two important issues: (1) how that which isn’t perceived as normative can be excluded, mistreated, regarded with prejudice, and discriminated against. (2) the importance of mobilization in its instrumental role in creating change and moving toward equality. I would recommend this to sociologists. I was intrigued by the notion of difference and otherness and how it transcends space, time, and culture. I had thought of homosexuality as an issue in Western countries and was intrigued to see that this was worldwide, transcending space & cultures. That really shows the importance of this issue. Marsha McQueen (undergraduate) (3) A dynamic protagonist, a rare video glimpse at
a contemporary urban African setting (cf the horrible National-Geographic-in-the-60s
style videos set in Africa that I viewed a couple years ago), and good
pacing. A happy “and then everything turned out ok” ending
is resisted. But because the video is centred on an effective individual,
it’s a little harder to get at social structural and cultural
factors. The video doesn’t speak about Mugabe other than his pigs
& dogs speech, it doesn’t take up the role of the church in
Zimbabwe, and it doesn’t look at how Machida came – in this
country where many appear not to have ever heard of lesbians -- to take
up a lesbian identity that comes with Western rainbow & triangle
symbols. Like, is the rainbow supposed to be some kind of deep structure?
Kathy Bischoping
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