Queertopia’s New World Order: Simon Nkoli’s Legacy in Queer Black Nightlife Spaces in Johannesburg

Abstract

This article explores the concept of queer utopia, drawing from Muñoz’s writings on queer futurity, from Simon Nkoli’s embodiment of the struggle for queer utopia through organising with GLOW and in spaces of militant joy like Pride marches, and from modern queer Black feminist interpretations of nightlife spaces in Johannesburg. Through a close reading of a queer Black nightlife event in 2021 called Queertopia, this article argues that queer Black feminists are embodying queer utopia through nightlife, even in the midst of the manifold crises of COVID-19 and late-stage racial capitalism and cisheterophobia. By linking practices of healing and nightlife in these events to resistance to racial capitalism and cisheterophobia, and particularly lifting up queer Black people involved in activism and social movement and cultural organising work, these parties continue the lineage of Simon Nkoli’s work towards dignity and joy. They exist as experiments in queer Black feminist practice, particularly through growing bonds and emphasising relationality between organisers and attendees of these parties, and focusing on healing, dancing, and dreaming in collective space. This article ultimately argues that these nightlife spaces are practices, in the legacy of Nkoli’s activism and analysis, of embodying resistance and queer Black visibility, and ultimately of imagining utopias where queer Black people can fully thrive.