Isigqumo
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Isigqumo is the name given to the little-researched township cant used by Black South African mine workers.
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[edit] Background
Isigqumo arose as workers often lived in hostels without their families and developed relationships with their fellow workers. Workers took on "male wives" while at the hostels, often engaging in non-penetrative, intercrural intercourse, returning to their families when work had finished. The cant, which does not currently have an entry in Ethnologue, draws on the Sotho, Shona, Nguni, Tswana and Zulu languages.
[edit] Vocabulary
injonga - active male
mantlwana - a gay free-spot in the mines
masala - versatile male
nongolozi - gay man - derived from a Johannesburg gang called the Ninevites, whose leader Nongoloza Mathebula forbad contact with women
skesana - passive male
shaya marete - to masturbate
[edit] Further research
Ken Cage, a renowned linguist, who has undertaken much research on Gayle, the white South African gay slang, refers to Isigqumo in his writings and lectures, but few resources are available on the web. Much work has also been undertaken on notions of sexuality in Africa, but little about Isigqumo can be found.
A vocabulary can also be found in Moffies by Bart Luirink
[edit] External links
- http://www.geocities.com/CollegePark/Campus/2159/gayle.htm - a teaching resource on Gayle with references to Isigqumo
- http://andrejkoymasky.com/liv/fam/biom3/math1.html - information on Nongoloza Mathebula
- http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/pwh/patron-africhomo.html - Heart of Lavender - In search of Gay Africa - an informative article by Eugene J Patron that refers to the miners
- http://www.q.co.za/homosaurus/a.htm - a dictionary of South African gay terms and links including some terms from Moffies
- http://www.geocities.com/w_roscoe/africa.html - Boy-Wives and Female Husbands, Stephen O Murray and Will Roscoe - an article on historical same-sex partnerships in Africa with a list of native African terminology
