Queerness and the Politics of Identity in Tendai Huchu's The Hairdresser of Harare and Uzodinma Iweala's Speak no Evil.

ABSTRACT

This essay has examined The Hairdresser of Harare and Speak no Evil so as to establish the fact the queerness and the politics of identity are points of conflicts in both texts. The presence of homosexuals in the African society is a deviation from the provisions of the law, the church and the African culture. Sexual identity in the areas of the law and culture is clear and straightforward. The texts also reveals that in Nigeria, homosexuality comes with fourteen years imprisonment. This essay has looked at the character of Dumi and Niru, the protagonists in both texts who are homosexuals and how the power of popular culture and the increase in youths who rebel against the norms, places them in a situation in society where their sexual identity is at odds with what is acceptable.

In the texts, the protagonists who are queer represent one side of the divide, the youths who have chosen to accept the growing trends that is popular among their peers while they rebel against the culture and the law that is already laid down. They conflict with the adults represented in the politicians Minister M, and some of the youths like Vimbai, in The Hairdresser of Harare as well as the pastor and Niru’s father in Speak no Evil who still maintain the position of the law and the culture of the society.