Geleza Diaries is a series of short films that showcases South African LGBTIQ persons that are innovative and creative in their approaches to education around gender and sexual diversity in various ways. Geleza is a Zulu vernacular word that refers to a process of learning and teaching. The word describes learning and teaching through experience, as opposed to a formal setting such as a school or university.
The intention of the Geleza Diaries series is to place a spotlight on the work that is being conducted on the ground to advocate for LGBTIQ rights by black LGBTIQ activists, creatives, entrepreneurs, educators and innovators etc that often goes unnoticed, but is extraordinarily impactful. The series is focused on using storytelling in mother tongue as a tool to raise awareness around LGBTIQ rights in South Africa.
Geleza Diaries was developed to support the GALA Queer Archive’s education programme that is focused on broadening perspectives around gender and sexual diversity in communities and spaces of secondary and tertiary education. The film series can be used as educational resources and supportive learning materials that encourage dialogue around topics that are far too often only discussed in English. Geleza Diaries is also an archival project and places emphasis on the importance of recording the stories and experiences of LGBTIQ people in South Africa in order to address the ongoing erasure of queer narratives in a cis-normative and heteronormative society.
Geleza Diaries - Featuring Sicka Starban
This project was made possible with support from SAIH (Norwegian Students' and Academics' International Assistance Fund)