The construction of gender and sexuality in North Africa has been profoundly shaped by the legacy of colonialism, particularly in Algeria. This talk explores how Western colonial powers imposed their gender ideologies on North African societies, often disrupting existing social structures and delegitimizing traditional understandings of gender and sexuality. The colonial gaze exoticized and oversimplified African gender expressions, leading to long-lasting impacts on how gender and sexuality are perceived and regulated in the region and beyond.

A poignant example of this colonial legacy can be seen in the recent controversy surrounding Algerian Olympic boxer Imane Khelif. Khelif’s experience highlights how Western-imposed gender norms continue to affect African athletes on the global stage. Khelif faced intense scrutiny and racism due to her physique, which some claimed did not conform to traditional Western concepts of femininity. This incident demonstrates how colonial-era notions of gender continue to shape public opinion and policy- from international sports to digital platforms-disproportionately affecting athletes from formerly colonized nations.

The Khelif controversy also reveals the intersection of racism and sexism in contemporary discourses regarding Africa broadly, and Algeria specifically. The bestializing of athletes of color, especially those from African communities, remains a common trope rooted in colonial ideologies. This was evident in the racist imagery used against Khelif, which depicted her as a hulking, animalistic figure contrasted with a delicate, white female opponent.

The talk will conclude by discussing ongoing efforts to decolonize gender and sexuality norms in North Africa. This includes initiatives to revive indigenous cultures, implement more inclusive policies, and challenge Western-centric standards in the region. The case of Imane Khelif serves as a powerful reminder of the need to continue dismantling colonial legacies and working towards a more equitable approach to gender and sexuality in North Africa.

RSVP here.

Biography:

Fatima Zahrae Chrifi Alaoui (Ph.D., University of Denver) is an Associate Professor of Rhetoric, Social Media, Social Movements, and Social Change, and Coordinator of Graduate Studies in the Department of Communication Studies at San Francisco State University. Dr. Alaoui’s research engages with critical rhetoric, political communication, digital technologies, gender and sexuality studies, transnational feminism, and social change across various contexts, including social movements, new media, political discourse, and pop culture. Her scholarship particularly focuses on how non-normative, un-institutionalized voices of resistance work to effect change and how normative or institutionalized discourses sustain power, with a specific emphasis on North Africa.

Dr. Alaoui is the author, co-author, or co-editor of several influential works, including Morocco from a Colonial to a Post-Colonial Era: The Socio-Political Environment through a Grandmother’s Autoethnography (Middle East Journal of Culture & Communication, 2020), Unpacking African Epistemological Violence: Toward Critical Africanness in Communication Studies (Review of Communication, 2021), and ’You Know It’s Different in the Game Man’: Technodesiring, Technorelating, and TechnoBlackness as Analytical Modes of Queer Worldmaking in Black Mirror’s ‘Striking Vipers’ (Journal of Homosexuality, 2022). Additionally, her recent work includes Rethinking Race: A Transnational Epistemological Perspective in Communication Studies (Communication and Race, 2024).