User:Josalsan89/Neocolonialism

Cultural approaches
Although the concept of neocolonialism was originally developed within a Marxist theoretical framework and is generally employed by the political left, the term "neocolonialism" is found in other theoretical frameworks.

Neocolonialism and Gender Construction
Concepts of neocolonialism can be found in theoretical works investigating gender outside the global north. Often these conceptions can be seen as erasing gender diversity within communities in the global south to create conceptions of gender that align with the global north. Gerise Herndon argues that applying feminism or other theoretical frameworks around gender must look at the relationship between the individual subject, their home country or culture, and the country and culture that exerts neocolonial control over the country. In her piece “Gender Construction and Neocolonialism,” Herndon presents the writings of Maryse Conde as an example of grappling with what it means to have your identity constructed by neocolonial powers. Her work explores how women in burgeoning nations rebuilt their identities in the postcolonial period. The task of creating new identities was met with challenges from not only an internal view of what the culture was in these places but also from the external expectations of ex-colonial powers.

An example of the construction of gender norms and conceptions by neocolonial interests is made clear in the Ugandan Anti-Homosexuality Act. In 2014, Uganda passed the Anti-Homosexuality Act. The act, first introduced in 2009, made gay relationships illegal. Prohibition against homosexual relationships was previously covered by laws against sodomy but expanded to include community policing of homosexual people. Infringing this act would be punished by jail time. The act also introduced life sentences for anyone who participated in aggravated Homosexuality or was found trying to marry a same-sex partner. The call for this bill came from Ugandans who claimed traditional African values that did not include Homosexuality. This act faced backlash from western countries, citing human rights violations. The Ugandan response was to claim that this was a neocolonialist attack on their culture. Kristen Cheney argued that this is a misrepresentation of neocolonialism at work and that this conception of gender and anti Homosexuality erased historically diverse gender identities in Africa. To Cheney, neocolonialism was found in accepting conservative gender identity politics, specifically those of U.S.-based Evangelical Christians. Before the introduction of this act, conservative Christian groups in the United States had put African religious leaders and politicians on their payroll, reflecting the talking points of U.S.-based Christian evangelism. Cheney argues that this adoption and bankrolling of U.S. conservative Christian evangelist thought in Uganda is the real neocolonialism and effectively erodes any historical gender diversity in Africa..