Re-Membering Queer Africa in Literature and Film Matthew Ap Trick Durkin
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Duquesne University Duquesne Scholarship Collection Electronic Theses and Dissertations Spring 1-1-2017 "Unorthodox Conduct": Re-membering Queer Africa in Literature and Film Matthew aP trick Durkin Follow this and additional works at: https://dsc.duq.edu/etd Recommended Citation Durkin, M. P. (2017). "Unorthodox Conduct": Re-membering Queer Africa in Literature and Film (Doctoral dissertation, Duquesne University). Retrieved from https://dsc.duq.edu/etd/126 This One-year Embargo is brought to you for free and open access by Duquesne Scholarship Collection. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Duquesne Scholarship Collection. For more information, please contact [email protected]. "UNORTHODOX CONDUCT": RE-MEMBERING QUEER AFRICA IN LITERATURE AND FILM A Dissertation Submitted to the McAnulty College and Graduate School of Liberal Arts Duquesne University In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy By Matthew Durkin May 2017 Copyright by Matthew P. Durkin 2017 "UNORTHODOX CONDUCT": RE-MEMBERING QUEER AFRICA IN LITERATURE AND FILM By Matthew P. Durkin Approved April 7, 2017 ________________________________ ________________________________ Emad Mirmotahari, Ph.D. Laura Engel, Ph.D. Associate Professor of English Professor of English (Committee Chair) (Committee Member) ________________________________ James Holstun, Ph.D. Professor of English, University at Buffalo (Committee Member) ________________________________ ________________________________ James Swindal, Ph.D. Greg Barnhisel, Ph.D. Dean, McAnulty College and Graduate Chair, Department of English School of Liberal Arts Professor of English Professor of Philosophy iii ABSTRACT "UNORTHODOX CONDUCT": RE-MEMBERING QUEER AFRICA IN LITERATURE AND FILM By Matthew P. Durkin May 2017 Dissertation supervised by Professor Emad Mirmotahari "'Unorthodox Conduct'" explores positive representations of sexual and gender minorities in African literatures and film from the 1970s to 2010s that dismantle heterosexist notions of African sexuality and work towards what Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o calls "re-membering." I interrogate how literary and cinematic depictions of same-sex sexualities resist contemporary homophobic attitudes, particularly those espoused by government and spiritual leaders. Positive literary and cinematic representations of queer Africans, however, have only emerged in recent years. These literary and cinematic representations are routinely minimized or ignored in academia as valid avenues for the navigation of interpersonal relationships and socio-political strife in queer African communities. Nevertheless, queer African narratives do significant work as they threaten the stability of state-sponsored homophobia and narratives of an authentic and normative African identity. They undermine stereotypes and heterosexist mythologies designed to instill fear and iv hatred of non-normative identities and sexualities. This project explores several texts: Yulisa Amadu Maddy's novel No Past, No Present, No Future (1973), Chinelo Okparanta's novel Under the Udala Trees (2015), Diriye Osman's short story collection Fairytales for Lost Children (2013), and Laurent Bocahut and Philip Brooks' documentary Woubi chéri (1998). These works provide diverse representations of queer Africa, all of which resist heterosexist notions of a normative "African" identity. Building upon V.Y. Mudimbe's notion of the "idea of Africa," I contend that at stake in these narratives is control over what "Africa" means and what qualifies as an "African" identity. Tracing the history of queerness in Africa back to Victorian-era anthropological and ethnographic scholarship, as well as Afrocentric thought, I argue that queer African memory has undergone extensive, intentional erasure. Only in the past twenty years have scholars produced rich histories and socio-cultural explanations for same-sex loving and non-gender conforming individuals and communities in various African contexts. Most of this scholarship originates in the fields of anthropology, ethnography, and human rights discourse. I emphasize that literary and cinematic works, too, advocate for the remembrance of queer Africa, though they remain insufficiently studied as effective forms of resistance. Responding to this gap in scholarship, "'Unorthodox Conduct'" centralizes literature and cinema as critical sites of queer African memory as they expand what it means to be African. v DEDICATION For my wife, Ariel and our daughter, Josie. And, without a doubt, for my parents, Pat and Sandy. vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENT A sincere thanks to the members of my committee: Dr. Emad Mirmotahari, Dr. Laura Engel, and Dr. James Holstun. Your guidance, support, and constructive criticism over the years helped make this project. A thank you will never fully encapsulate what all of you have done for me, but it is the only phrase that works: thank you all from the bottom of my heart. I must also thank everyone who helped me from my undergraduate studies to this moment. Thank you to Dr. Christine Doran, Dr. Derek Maus, and Dr. Donald McNutt at SUNY Potsdam for encouraging me to pursue literary studies at a time when I did not know what to do. I must thank Dr. Judith Funston. After underperforming – frankly not attending – in her Introduction to Literature course during my sophomore year, Dr. Funston informed me that I could not pass her class. During those times that I did attend, Dr. Funston introduced me to illuminating works, particularly Nathaniel Hawthorne's "Young Goodman Brown." I never knew the power of literature until I took her class. I failed her course, but she made me question what I wanted to do with my life. Lastly, I want to thank my family: to my parents, Pat and Sandy, for their unending love, support, and instillation of a strong work ethic required to finish this project. To my sister, Katie, for attending all of my band concerts – school-related and extra-curricular – because I know she reveled in every single one. To my favorite person, my wife, Dr. Ariel Nereson, for her love during times of self-doubt. And to our daughter, Josie, whose arrival taught me about the boundless possibilities of love. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................... iv DEDICATION ............................................................................................................................... vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ............................................................................................................vii INTRODUCTION: Re-membering Queer Africa ..........................................................................1 CHAPTER ONE: "Homosexuality is un-African": Debates and Arguments about Homosexuality in Africa" ........................................................................................................................................28 CHAPTER TWO: "Unorthodox Conduct": Sexuality in Yulisa Amadu Maddy's No Past, No Present, No Future .........................................................................................................................64 CHAPTER THREE: Sexuality and Gender in Woubi chéri .......................................................110 CHAPTER FOUR: Sexuality and Religion in Chinelo Okparanta's Under the Udala Trees and Diriye Osman's Fairytales for Lost Children .............................................................................143 CONCLUSION ...........................................................................................................................188 BIBLIOGRAPHY .......................................................................................................................192 viii INTRODUCTION: Re-membering Queer Africa1 Queer African memory faces the threat of erasure. African politicians, faith-based leaders, and laypeople alike, have actively disremembered and forgotten non-normative sexual and gender identities in an effort to manufacture a singular, authentic "African" identity.2 The spread of homophobic rhetoric links homosexuality with the eradication of African traditions, a perceived antipathy towards reproduction, an affiliation with foreign entities as well as bestial, non-human behaviors.3 Homosexuality threatens African traditions. Containment and eradication of homosexuality, then, will help preserve what it means to be "African." Although homophobic rhetoric reflects modern concerns about the loss of African traditions, these arguments originate from beyond the continent, particularly from European colonial-era ideological tenets and legal systems.4 Historical evidence confirms that European imperialists established political, legal, educational, and religious systems dedicated to the eradication of African cultures. Colonialists employed missionary educational programs designed to eradicate indigenous language; forcibly extricate bodies to different shores; and remake Africans to mirror European ideals, effectively overthrowing indigenous religious, 1 In this project, I use "queer" as a broad, overarching term to describe various forms of sexual and gender identities, particularly those who do not share heterosexual desires or participate in gendered norms as dictated by biological sex. I offer further explanation later in this chapter. 2 See Neville Hoad's African Intimacies; Ashley Currier's Out in Africa; Crystal Biruk's "'Aid for