ABSTRACT
In conclusion I want to return to Muholi’s image Aftermath. As I have argued in the introduction, this image starkly reveals the tension between, on the one hand, the post-apartheid constitution where gay and lesbian rights (based on international human rights) are protected and, on the other hand, the (increasing?) violence against lesbians. The murder of Nkonyana, which I discussed in the third chapter of the book, similarly reveals this tension. In this conclusion I want to return to the subject’s body in Aftermath and in doing so bring together the different power relations that are inscribed into this body. I then turn towards a broader discussion of (sexual) politics in the country, especially in relation to nationalism. In the second half of the conclusion I turn the focus onto the title of the image and explore the meaning of the word ‘aftermath.’ ‘Aftermath’ not only relates to the particular traumatic experience of the subject in the image itself, but also points to the possibility of a growing cultural archive that enables an imaginary and movement towards an ‘after apartheid’ while pointing to a constant awareness of the dangers of, and resisting, a postcolonial imaginary based on hetero-and homonationalism.
