Editing Neocolonialism (section)

=== 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 norms within communities in the global south<ref name="Cheney2012">{{Cite journal |last=Cheney |first=Kristen |date=September 2012 |title=Locating Neocolonialism, 'Tradition', and Human Rights in Uganda's 'Gay Death Penalty' |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0002020600006971/type/journal_article |journal=African Studies Review |language=en |volume=55 |issue=2 |pages=77–95 |doi=10.1353/arw.2012.0031 |s2cid=144478765 |issn=0002-0206}}</ref> 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 Condé]] 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.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Herndon |first=Gerise |date=1993 |title=Gender Construction and Neocolonialism |journal=[[World Literature Today]] |language=en |volume=67 |issue=4 |pages=731–736 |doi=10.2307/40149571 |jstor=40149571}}</ref>

An example of the construction of gender norms and conceptions by neocolonial interests is made clear in the [[The Anti-Homosexuality Act, 2014|Ugandan Anti-Homosexuality Act]] introduced in 2009 and passed in 2014. The act expanded upon previously existing laws against sodomy to make gay relationships punishable by life imprisonment. 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 United States imposed [[economic sanctions]] against Uganda in June 2014 in response to the law, the [[World Bank]] indefinitely postponed a $90 million aid loan to Uganda and the governments of [[Denmark]], the [[Netherlands]], [[Sweden]] and [[Norway]] halted aid to Uganda in opposition to the law; the Ugandan government defended the bill and rejected condemnation of it, with the country's authorities stating President Museveni wanted "to demonstrate Uganda's independence in the face of Western pressure and provocation".<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-27933051 |title=US imposes sanctions on Uganda for anti-gay law |work=BBC News |date=19 June 2014 |access-date=30 November 2018}}</ref> 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.<ref name="Cheney2012" />