“The festering finger?” Reimagining Minority Sexuality in Tendai Huchu's The Hairdresser of Harare and Abdellah Taïa's Une Mélancolie Arabe
2013; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 25; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1080/1013929x.2013.795758
ISSN2159-9130
Autores Tópico(s)African history and culture analysis
ResumoAbstract Tendai Huchu's The Hairdresser of Harare and Une Mélancolie Arabe by Moroccan Abdellah Taïa explore minority sexuality against overtly homophobic backdrops in contemporary African contexts. This article initially problematises minority sexuality in Africa before considering the stylistic and narratological techniques employed by both writers to depict the quest by their gay protagonists in assuming their homosexuality. By centring on gay characters, the novels contrast and subvert the actual social marginalisation faced by these characters. Using Maria Pia Lara's formulations, this article reads the overt depiction of “marginal” sexuality as possessing an “illocutionary force” which exerts pressure on monolithic conceptions of sexual identity and potentially incites readers to perceive differently a subject that has hitherto remained taboo in many parts of Africa. Keywords: minority sexualityillocutionary forceAbdellah TaïaTendai Huchu Notes In his book Queer Nations: “Marginal” Sexualities in the Maghreb (2000), Jarrod Hayes interchangeably uses the terms “sexual dissidence”, “minority sexuality” and “marginal sexuality” to refer to any sexual orientation that deviates from heteronormativity. Hayes employs these terms with inverted commas because of the subjectivity that shrouds their use in literary analysis. He notes that on one hand literary works treating the theme of “marginal” sexuality narrate protagonists who are ostracised because of their sexuality. On the other hand, by placing such gay characters at the centre of the novels, writers displace them from the margins to the mainstream of the literary universe. In this article, minority, marginal and deviant sexuality will be used to denote homosexuality. Homosexuality was however partially criminalised in France during the reign of the Vichy Regime. From 1940-1944 under Philippe Pétain, there was a modification of Article 334 of the penal code. This modification incriminated anyone who committed an immodest act against a minor of the same sex. This modification was seen as directed at homosexuals because it did not refer to immodest acts against people of a different sex. This and all other translations in this article are my own.
Referência(s)