Queering Postcolonial Literature: Non-Normative Desire and Narrative Resistance in African Fiction

African Journal of Gender and Women Studies | Vol. 11, No. 11, November 2026 | pp. 43–56

DOI: 10.46882/2026/AJGWS/001348

Article Type: Research Article

Title: Queering Postcolonial Literature: Non-Normative Desire and Narrative Resistance in African Fiction

Names of Author: Chidera Onuoha¹ & Julian Vance-Kerr²

Author's Affiliation: ¹Department of English and Literary Studies, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria; ²Department of Postcolonial and World Literatures, University of Warwick, Coventry, United Kingdom.

Abstract:
State-sponsored homophobia and cultural nationalist rhetoric across several African countries frequently portray same-sex desire and gender non-conformity as Western cultural impositions incompatible with authentic African identity. Challenging these erasures, a growing body of contemporary African fiction centers queer characters whose intimate lives, historical lineages, and emotional resilience disrupt heteronormative literary conventions. These narratives reclaim precolonial histories of gender fluidity while interrogating the intersection of colonial sodomy laws, religious fundamentalism, and patriarchal family structures. This paper examines how contemporary African authors deploy narrative form and memory to articulate queer African subjectivities. Drawing on queer African studies and postcolonial literary theory, the analysis conducts close readings of novels by Chinelo Okparanta, Mohamed Mbougar Sarr, and Troy Onyango. We demonstrate that queer African literature operates as a vital counter-archive that reimagines kinship, belonging, and bodily freedom.

Keywords: Queer African literature, postcolonial fiction, non-normative desire, heteronormativity, counter-archive, queer studies, African feminism, identity

Manuscript Timeline: Received: September 22, 2026; Revised: October 21, 2026; Accepted: October 25, 2026; Published: November 16, 2026.

Citation: Onuoha, C., & Vance-Kerr, J. (2026). Queering Postcolonial Literature: Non-Normative Desire and Narrative Resistance in African Fiction. African Journal of Gender and Women Studies, 11(11), 43–56. DOI: 10.46882/2026/AJGWS/001348

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