“The festering finger?” Reimagining Minority Sexuality in Tendai Huchu's The Hairdresser of Harare and Abdellah Taïa's Une Mélancolie Arabe

Abstract

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.