ASWAD & AKHENATEN

ASWAD held  a significant conference 4-6 Nov 2021 on contemporary African and Diaspora thought.

One of the panel focusses was on: ‘Transgressive Bodies and Sexualities in Black Diaspora.’  

The panelists were:

Bruno Santana, Universidade Federal da Bahia, Brasil

Megg Rayara, Universidade Federal da Bahia, Brasil

Andrea Allen, University of Toronto

Joshua Reason, University of Pennsylvania

Strangely they made no effort to seek historical origins or to find historical echoes in ancient Africa. While objecting to a current framing they show no interest in their own deep history but seem to accept the given Western history. I suggested that they should look into Akhenaten who appears to have been transgressive and certainly opens challenges about gender identity, but no apparent takers. This is quite an issue for it is not possible to reduce Akhenaten transgressive sexuality to medical issues as the King controls his portrayal and  King’s have never allowed their portrayal to refer to the negative merely because it might be true. To put it sharply, the King approved his representation