Silenced by Denial: The Problematic of Same-Sex Sexual Relations in the African Hispanic Novel La única esperanza by Danielle Nicole Mboume

Abstract

Same-sex sexual relations remains a sensible topic in African societies and literary discourses. The story of Danielle Nicole Mboume, as portrayed in her autobiographical novel La única esperanza (The Only Hope), provides a case study to problematize the idea of same-sex sexual practices in Cameroon and Sub-Sahara in general. I argue that the tendency to silence same-sex acts is the result of a collective denial of the evidence that same-sex sexual practices are an historical part of some traditional Cameroonian and African societies. The denial, based on the myth of homosexuality as "un-African," is accentuated by colonial and postcolonial forces. The denial is not divorced from its negative consequences on the victims who are suffering from family, social ostracism and death sentences. Ironically, the idea of same-sex acts also serves as a powerful political weapon against the members of the regime in power, responsible for criminalizing homosexual behavior.