Shinta Jennifer Ayebazibwe is a development studies scholar-activist, researcher and writer with a passion for advancing social and economic justice, particularly in the areas of gender and sexualities, identity and relationality, and land and agrarian reform in Africa.
Currently a PhD candidate at the University of Johannesburg, Ayebazibwe’s research focuses on how shifting socio-economic conditions influence lesbian self-expression and relationships with families of origin.
With a background in economics, politics, and philosophy, Ayebazibwe’s work intersects theory and lived experience, with published research on queerphobia, land politics, and LGBTQ+ narratives in Africa.
Ayebazibwe says: “Core to the global alt-right movement is shaping the narrative around certain groups, such as women and LGBTQIA+ people. In presenting women’s rights over their bodies and LGBTQIA+ people as antithetical to development, this movement shifts attention away from the real issue: equitable resource allocation.
“The interests of the alt-right are vested in exploitative, extractivist, and intensive resource use, things like large-scale mining, commercial farming, and unregulated generative AI.
“This is polluting the natural world and increasing unemployment and job precarity. This is exacerbated by an aggressive anti-intellectualism which denies climate change and advances racist ideas regarding the causes of poverty and inequality.”
