The rule of the anus? Queer imaginaries of power in central Africa.

This article examines Peter Geschiere's recent scholarly focus on the moral and political panic surrounding the alleged rise of "homosexuality" in Cameroon, highlighting his analysis of the popular association between same-sex sexuality, particularly anal sex, and elite illicit wealth—a phenomenon termed "anusocratie." It situates Geschiere's "queer turn" within queer African Studies and extends his engagement with Achille Mbembe's and Joseph Tonda's interpretations of anality in postcolonial power dynamics by incorporating ethnographic examples from the Democratic Republic of Congo that reframe anality as a source of queer power rather than mere passivity. The article further proposes that this discourse on anal sex and power can be contextualized within longer Central African genealogies of sacred kingship, witchcraft, and transgression, suggesting that symbolic homosexuality may function as an alternative mode of political sovereignty. Overall, it underscores the complex interplay of sexuality, power, and social anxieties in Central African political imaginaries without reducing these phenomena to simplistic or essentialist explanations.