Queering the Aftermath: Rethinking the Queer in Postcolonial and the (Post)colonial in Queer

Abstract

“Queering the Aftermath: Rethinking the Queer in Postcolonial and the (Post)colonial in Queer,” argues the necessity for a sustained dialogue between the fields of postcolonial studies and queer studies. The paucity of analysis of queerness within postcolonial discourse, along with dearth of analysis of systems of colonialism which undergird much of queer studies impedes both discourses’ aims for challenging the systems of normativity upon which Western hegemony is built. With a focus on sub-Saharan African queer narratives, this work finds that, contrary to common perception, queerness in Africa operates in a myriad of forms that are unrecognized in U.S. notions of queerness. On the one hand, failure to recognize the presence of these forms of contributes to representations of African nations as being among “the most homophobic” nations in the world. On the other hand, failure to recognize the presence of these forms serve to displace systems of oppression. Alongside novels, such as Wole Soyinka’s The Interpreters and K. Sello Duiker’s Thirteen Cents, this text examines short fiction published by queer African individuals, while emphasizing how these texts reflect and respond to discourses that produce legislation such as the recent Ugandan anti-homosexuality bill. “Queering the Aftermath” explore how queer postcolonial Africans challenge both the discourse of postcolonialism, which more often than not fails to address the ways in which queer sexualities intersect with issues of gender, race, and globalization, as well as the assumption that all expressions of queerness stem from, and therefore look like Western expressions of queerness.