HOMOSEXUALITY, CONVERSION THERAPY AND JUDE DIBIA’S WALKING WITH SHADOWS

Abstract

This paper analyses the depiction of homosexuality and the issue of immutability in Jude Dibia’s Walking with Shadows. This study examines the protagonist Adrian’s journey as a battleground for debating the treatability of same-sex desire in modern Nigerian society, utilising Sigmund Freud's psychoanalytic theory of psychosexual development and Edmund Bergler’s conversion therapy paradigm. Dibia’s narrative delineates Adrian’s formative experiences, internal struggles, and the societal pressures that drive him towards a heterosexual marriage, providing a nuanced exploration of how familial expectations, religious tenets, and cultural stigma function as significant catalysts for repression and efforts at conformity. The novel presents Adrian’s six-year marriage as a temporary triumph for Bergler’s theory of mutability, illustrating how external influences and therapeutic measures can momentarily suppress same-sex attraction. The inevitable revival of Adrian’s repressed inclinations complicates any assertion of permanent transformation, indicating that immutability is neither an absolute biological reality nor a definitive therapeutic result, but rather a condition influenced by context, memory, and trauma. The study posits that by contextualising Adrian’s inner experiences within wider social and institutional frameworks, Dibia opposes homophobic practices, including coercive conversion efforts and moralistic ostracism, while also engaging in psychoanalytic discussions regarding the origins and permanence of sexual orientation. Ultimately, Walking with Shadows serves as a literary exploration that defies simplistic conclusions: it portrays identity as a continuous negotiation among desire, societal expectations, and the repercussions of repression, thereby highlighting literature’s ability to reveal the moral and psychological intricacies of queer life in Nigeria.