AFROCENTRIC PATTERNS OF RESISTANCE TO SAME-SEX RELATIONS AND UNIONS IN CHINELO OKPRARANTA’S UNDER THE UDALA TREES, AKWAEKE EMEZI’S THE DEATH OF VIVEK OJI, AND TENDAI HUCHU’S THE HAIRDRESSER OF HARARE

Abstract

This paper examines fictional representations in Chinelo Okparanta’s Under the Udala Trees, Akwaeke Emezi’s The Death of Vivek Oji, and Tendai Huchu’s The Hairdresser of Harare, which demonstrate how religious and cultural frameworks in Nigeria and Zimbabwe inform resistance to the acceptance of same-sex relationships, unions, and identities. These authors depict the prevailing condemnation of homosexuality and its classification as an ‘alternative’ sexuality within predominantly heterosexual societies. The discussion highlights the Afrocentric normative patterns that construe same-sex sexuality as a foreign intrusion into long-established heteronormative cultures.  Consequently, homosexuality is widely regarded as an un-African, taboo practice that conflicts with socio-cultural, religious, and historical foundations built on procreative heterosexual unions. Opposition - whether expressed through non-violent or coercive measures – thus emerges from entrenched heteronormative standards and from perceptions of homosexuality as a Western import threatening established sexual norms. Overall, the paper argues that such resistance reflects broader Nigerian, Zimbabwean, and Sub-Saharan African conceptions of sexuality that deem same-sex relationships a deviant and unacceptable ‘alternative’ to inherited heterosexual traditions. To put the discussion in perspective, the central argument draws on African critical perspectives regarding the coexistence – or lack thereof – of heterosexuality and homosexuality in Nigeria and Zimbabwe.