Ernst Van Der Wal

Flaunting Difference: Carnival and the Queering of City Space in Post-apartheid Cape Town Ernst Van Der Wal

The broad objective of this book is to examine the phenomenon of queer carnival for its corporeal and spatial expression of fluid identity formations. The visual constitution of multiple gay/queer identities during the Cape Town Pride Parade can be regarded as transgressive of the social hierarchies that are embedded within the normative order and social stability of post-apartheid city space. By tracing discursive and spatial shifts that have occurred within the South African sexual landscape, this book demonstrates that carnivalesque performances of sexual identity are complex as they enunciate both hetero- and homonormative discourses. In the process of deconstruction, the various interactions between the spectators and participants of carnival are examined for their capacity to blur binary constructs of stasis/mobility, subject/object, private/public, and normal/abnormal. The findings and analysis will be of interest to anyone working or studying within the field of Queer Studies.