S4 E2: The Evolution and enforcement of anti-gay laws in Nigeria

In Conversation with Dr Ayodele Sogunro

 In this episode, Dr Ayodele Sogunro who has completed  his doctoral studies at the Centre for Human Rights, walks us through the academic journey of attaining his PhD with the Centre for Human Rights. His PhD thesis is titled ‘Advocacy, Social Control and the criminalisation of same-sex relationships: The Evolution and enforcement of ‘anti-gay laws in Nigeria’. His research focuses on a critical legal studies perspective of LGBTIQ+ issues in Nigeria, around political homophobia, socio-economic issues, and the need by advocates to understand wider state dynamics of homophobia and transphobia in systems of power.

Dr Ayodele Sogunro is a Nigerian writer, lawyer and the Manager of the SOGIESC Unit at the Centre for Human Rights in the Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria. He is a legal and policy analyst with over ten years of field and courtroom experience in human rights law and advocacy in the African human rights system. Before joining the Centre, he was the Senior Legal Advisor with the Initiative for Equal Rights, a LGBT+ NGO in West Africa. His books include the short stories The Wonderful Life of Senator Boniface and other Sorry Tales and the collection of essays Everything in Nigeria is Going to Kill You. His literary essay, ‘One more nation bound in freedom: Themes from the Nigerian “anti-gay” law’ was shortlisted for the 2016 Gerald Kraak Award for African Writing. He has written an article ‘Why #EndSARS won’t quit’ in relation to the protests.

Visit Dr Ayodele Sogunro’s blog: www.ayosogunro.com

 

This conversation was recorded on 20 June 2022

Music: Inner Peace by Mike Chino https://soundcloud.com/mike-chinoCreative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported — CC BY-SA 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/b...Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/0nI6qJeqFcc