Queer life in Africa is also full of joy – remembering the carnival in Mozambique

Caio Simões de Araújo

IN late colonial Mozambique, in the city of Lourenço Marques (today’s Maputo), a carnival festival was held almost every year. From the 1950s to the 1970s, the event was more than just a street parade. It also became a space of queer expression and joy.

As a Brazilian queer scholar based in South Africa, I have been painfully aware that English-speaking contexts tend to be far better represented in queer African studies. I have chosen to focus on countries whose queer politics and history are lesser known and under-studied – such as Mozambique and Angola.

Which is how I came across the history of carnival celebrations in Lourenço Marques. With the support of Johannesburg’s Gala Queer Archive and LGBTIQ+ organisations such as the Arquivo de Identidade Angolano in Angola and Lambda in Mozambique, I’ve been collecting queer histories in and from these countries.

In these documentary