ABSTRACT
This chapter shows Queer theory and intersectionality as fundamental theoretical approaches for studies that seek to present a more critically nuanced approach to work on identification issues because these theoretical tools fundamentally disrupt essentializing approaches to identity politics. It suggests that scholarship that fails to complicate identity beyond mono-dimensional identity markers fails to illuminate the ever changing and political nature of identification. The chapter focuses on the theory of intersectionality to document how different forms of identification interact with each other to produce marginalized or privileged subjects. Two schools of thought have emerged to challenge Queer theory on ontological grounds: the essentialists and the standpoint theorists. The refusal highlights the problems with the commercialization of the 'gay' identity in South Africa. Three strategies were used to collect data, in-depth interview conversations, timelines and personal documents collected by participants. Time-lines were used in this study to understand and elicit information of each participant's life history.
