International Journal of Humanities and Social Science Vol. 4, No. 9(1); July 2014 77 No place for Gays: Colonialism and the African Homosexual in African Literature Wazha Lopang Lecturer, Department of English University of Botswana Faculty of Humanities Private Bag UB 00703 Gaborone Botswana Abstract This paper argues that African writers who set out to give the literary world an African perspective of the Indigenous people during colonialism did so by giving a convenient image of the African’s sexuality. This image stems out of the fact that the African’s sexuality was one in which same-sex relationships were portrayed as cultural imports of colonialism and not practices that were inherently part of the African. The paper shows how some influential West African writers either depicted homosexuality as evil or ignored it altogether despite the reality that was happening in the African continent. Furthermore, though there were instances in which the missionaries themselves were hypocritical in their denouncing of homosexuality this was not picked up by writers of African literature at the time. The gender politics was such that writers created an ideal image of the African male that was seen to have strong physical and spiritual characteristics to the effect that notions of homosexuality would be seen as improbable. Keywords: homosexual, colonialism, identity 1.0 Introduction The aim of this paper is to show how African literature dealt with the problematic issue of homosexuality during the colonial period. African writers were writing during a time when there was a strong need to project an African perspective of what constituted the African image. This surprisingly did not involve a look at homosexuality among Africans although the practice was widespread during the time of colonialism and even prior to that. As such one gets the feeling that there were some inconsistencies between the content in the novels and what was happening in Africa. Much of this problem could be a result of external pressure or the desire to project an image that is idealized, an image that is sexually ‘correct’ if you will. So, the paper shows that though the cultural aspects of the African were carefully mapped out for the local and European audience there was a concerted effort to present homosexuality as alien to Africa. The pre-colonial African is one who has been severely handicapped in terms of sexuality. West African writers for instance sought to present a picture of the African male where sex was seen in the context of procreation and in a heterosexual framework. The notion of the homosexual African was ludicrous such that the definition of the ideal African as the masculine symbol of his race did not offer any sexual ambiguities. Even African leaders were at the forefront of creating this ideal yet misinformed image of Africa. As Tamale states, “By re-writing the history of African sexualities, the power elite seek to obliterate same- sex relations in order to bolster their control over the political and social context, to maintain the hegemonic heteronormative hold on women.” (Tamale 2013, 22) The seductive image of an African male that is unambiguous and consistent is at variance with recent research in the area of African sexuality both during and prior to colonialism. 2.0 Pre-Colonial views of the African’s Sexual Identity It is important that for one to appreciate how African writers viewed homosexuality one must be aware of how earlier writers presented heterosexual relationships and their inherent politics. These representations were influenced by several factors such as characterization, setting and the writer’s spiritual and social climate. Three works generally come to mind. These are Haggard’s King Solomon’s Mines (1885), Plaatjie’s Mhudi (1930) and Conrad’s Heart of Darkness (1902). One may argue that these three influenced the focus of Achebe’s groundbreaking text on the African identity, Things Fall Apart (1958).