Revisiting Religion and Homophobia: Narratives of Agency and Resilience in Nigerian Queer Fiction

Abstract

Religion, especially Christianity and Islam, continues to be indicted for fomenting anti-queer tenors and validating the ostracisation of queer-identifying and gender non-conforming people. The interrogation of the roles of African Traditional Religions (ATRs) in queer narratives is important; thus, I examine Buki Papillon’s An Ordinary Wonder, a text which characterises an intersex protagonist, to underscore the ways ATRs are projected as supportive of diversity and encouraging of agency and resilience against oppressive and defining structures in Nigerian fictional narratives. Drawing from Gloria Anzaldúa’s theories on queerness and spirituality, I submit that ATRs are intricately tied to belief systems and cultures, and may thus avail positive outcomes in the discourse of religions and non-normative identities. As an attempt towards queer advocacy, Papillon’s work is an intervention to decolonise non-normative identities in a society that still suffers from the demonisation of African traditional beliefs and religions.