Towards an Inclusive Society: De-Centering Heteronormativity in Tendai Huchu’s the Hairdresser of Harare and Chinelo Okparanta’s Under the Udala Trees

Abstract

The portrayal of queer sexuality in African literature is something that is getting more and more attention, as a way of highlighting what happens in various societies in the world. This paper explores the portrayal of queer individuals in two African novels: Tendai Huchu’s The Hairdresser of Harare and Chinelo Okparanta’s Under the Udala Trees. Having observed that in the two novels queer individuals are forced to mask their sexuality and adopt heteronormative public personae in order to fit into mainstream society, this paper observes the two authors have used diaries and letters to accord agency to their repressed queer characters. The paper argues that diaristic and epistolary writing, in which individuals of queer sexuality reveal their intimate feelings for each other, are strong tools which the authors have used to accord agency to their repressed queer characters. The paper also uses Andy Alaszewski’s idea of “social suffering versus the diary.” Alaszewski (2006) observes that diaries provide a way of avoiding some of the moral dilemmas created when researchers solicit narratives of suffering and represent accounts which contextualize suffering within a personal biography. This study also observes the authors’ representation of heterosexual characters who accept the presence of queer individuals in their societies. It is in this line that this paper argues that the two authors offer a glimpse into a possibility of an inclusive society which accommodates people’s sexualities that are considered non-normative.