Congratulations to Dr Matthew Waites from Sociology on being selected as a Sociologist of the Month for January 2024 by Current Sociology, the first official journal of the International Sociological Association. The nomination is joint, together with Leon Freude (Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Spain), following a recent co-authored article ‘Analysing homophobia, xenophobia and sexual nationalisms in Africa: Comparing quantitative attitudes data to reveal societal differences’. 

Current Sociology have profiled Dr Waites and Freude with a Question & Answer piece published in the ‘Sociologist of the Month’ section of the International Sociological Association website. Here the authors discuss how the article relates to their developing research and perspectives, including Dr Waites previous work with African LGBTQ+ activists and publications addressing homophobia in specific African contexts.  

This follows Dr Waites being previously profiled for Topic of the Month in June 2023 by International Sociology, the second journal of the International Sociological Association, with respect to an earlier article 'Decolonizing the boomerang effect in global queer politics: A new critical framework for sociological analysis of human rights contestation'. 

The Current Sociology article relates to wider ongoing work by Dr Waites to connect with and support African LGBTQ+ activists. In May 2023 a webinar ‘Uganda Anti-Homosexuality Bill’ organised with the College of Social Sciences, invited the leading Ugandan LGBTQ+ activist Dr Frank Mugisha (founder of Sexual Minorities Uganda), to address what has since passed into law as the Anti-Homosexuality Act 2023. A video of the online presentation and conversation has been published by the University of Glasgow via Youtube.

Uganda Anti-Homoesexuality Bill - Webinar

First published: 31 January 2024

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