Normalizing Taboo: Homosexual Advocacy in Emezi’s Fiction

This paper interrogates the manner in which African fiction portrays homosexuality and other non-normative sexual orientations, with a focus on Akwaeke Emezi’s “Who is like God?” and The Death of Vivek. Earlier works tend to depict these themes negatively or censoriously, while later ones appear to celebrate these deviations, emphasizing characters’ sexual experiences. A third group of writers simply depict the struggles of homosexual characters without moral judgment or celebration. Using the phenomenological approach and aspects of Freudian and Jungian psychoanalysis, this paper argues that Emezi belongs to the second group of writers who seem to celebrate these culturally stigmatized sexual deviations in their stories. Emezi’s works’ frequent depiction of taboo relationships: spiritualizing the crossing of cultural boundaries; use of sexual preferences as justification and, celebrating “freedom” beyond moral and family constraints, suggest a systematic effort to normalize sexual taboos considered culturally unacceptable in the African socio-cultural context. The paper concludes by reiterating that Emezi’s fiction’s condemnation of the censorial view of non-heterogenous sexuality is based on the very premise which they criticize - the use of taboo to uphold preferred social realities. It also reveals that the central characters like Kachi, Vivek and Osita who engage in non-heterogenous relationships are driven by the Thanatos instinct. Lastly, the paper advocates for literary portrayals that uphold and sustain generational values that have helped African societies develop distinctive identities.