Unravelling the Silences of Black Sexualities

Author(s): Sanya Osha

Source: Agenda: Empowering Women for Gender Equity, No. 62, African Feminisms Volume 2,1:
Sexuality in Africa (2004), pp. 92-98
Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. on behalf of Agenda Feminist Media
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Unravellingthe silences of blacksexualities

SanyaOsha

abstract
The silence imposed on black sexualityfromthe advent of colonialismto the presentage of globalisationhas
several histories,impacts,reversalsand culturalconnotations.The colonisingagent deprivedthe black sexual
subjectof agency in orderto makehim/herpliablefora series of penetrativeattentionswhicheithervirginisedor
hypersexualisedhim/her.Thesepenetrativeattentionsand actions(phallicin theiroverallorientation)were central
to the projectof colonialism.Thisperspectiveaddressesthe violenceof variousformsof silencing(whichin most
cases are signs of panic)visitedon blacksexualitybothwithinthe contextof colonialismand withinprocessesof
decolonisation.Second, it offersa critiqueof currentdiscoursesof sexualityin Africaand finally,it presentsbrief
scenes of sexualityin the disparatecontextsof SouthAfricaand Nigeria.

keywords
sexualities,colonialism,globalisation,sexualisation

Discussions. of sexualities in Africa, and

postcolonial contexts are often mediated by
several events, histories and categories.
Considerationshave to be made of the impact
of colonialism, apartheid, modernity (and
postmodernity),the postcolonialstate,sex, race,
class and gender on the politicsof sexualityand
its variousforms of politicisation.
Forinstance,as
it is often pointed out, 'postcolonialism...like
postmodernism,is unevenlydeveloped globally'
(McClintock, 1995:12). Thus, the types and
levels of the ideologisation of sexuality in
postcolonialityare multipleand heterogeneous.
For understandingof postcolonialismand
postmodernismto remainrelevant,factors such
as culture, history,race, class and gender are
importantfor any kindof theorisation.Similarly,
manifestationsand constructions of sexuality
ought to be approachedthe same way;that is,
culturally,
historicallyand contextually
ft is importantto note that a certaindynamic
of invisibiltyattendedthe very questionof black
sexuality.Varying
degreesof invisibilty
markedthe
blacksex subjectwithin colonialismand during
postcolonialnation-building
projects.First,there
92

was a violentsilencingof blacksubjectivity

during
the colonialencounter which was followed by
elaboratediscoursesaimedat demonisingit.And
within postcoloniality,regimes of compulsory
heterosexuality
subsumedsexualitybeneathother
nationalprioritiesand concems.These forms of
erasure and repressionvaried from nation to
nation,regionto regionandwithinvariousgroups,
cufturesand historicalframeworks.
In essence, a series of erasures and
misrepresentationshave been visited on black
sexuality since the advent of coloniality.The
colonisingagent either undulyromanticisedthe
colonised subject by virginisingher/himthrough
a powerfulprocess of de-agentialisation
and also
by objectification(fossilisationin the Euroerotic
imaginary) or by hypersexualising her/him,
employing tropes of excess, unrestrained
camality,irrationalityand violence. Eitherway,
this amounts to sexual stigmatisation (see
Boone, 2001). In postcoloniality,black sexuality
faces both the constraints engendered by
multiple regimes of heterosexuality and a
general economy of sexualitywhich is global in
its reachandwhich is usuallymarkedby gestures

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the silencesof blacksexualities

Unravelling

Perspective

of subjugation and violent appropriation.'

Oftentimes when the black sex subject is not
virginised or hypersexualised, s/he acquires
moments of genuineand sufficientagencywhich
are paradoxicallycharacterisedby a dynamicof
invisibility.
However, if indeed we push for a
multiracial,multiculturaland multiethnicworld,
we might as well strive for a multisexualworld
in which various sexual identities (gay,lesbian,
straight,bisexual,transsexualetc) are ableto find
appropriatearticulation.
In this discussion, I highlight or suggest
tentatively,the forms of politicisation(and in
some instances, fetishisation) that occur in
relation to sexuality under relatively new
democratic dispensations (South Africa and
Nigeria)and the ratherdifferenttrajectoriesof
this development.Before I do so, a discussionof
a recent volume on Africansexualitiesshouldbe
helpful in identifyingthe current state of the
discourseon Africansexualities.
There was indeed a largevoid on discourses
relatingto sexuality/iesin Africa.Thisdisturbing
silence is not unrelated to the violence and
humiliationsof colonialism.As so manyscholars
such as Ann Laura Stoler, Anne McClintock,
Sander Gilman, Megan Vaughan and Robert
Younghave demonstrated,the colonialevent in
its variousdimensionswas shot throughby very
powerful sexual undercurrents.The colonial
drive,in other words,was essentiallyphallic(and
thus penetrative) in which the adventurous
agents of empire - the soldier,the administrator
and the missionary- penetrated a seemingly
passivegeographicalspace, a virginalwilderness
that was awaitingthe thrust,domesticationand
eventual upliftmentof Euro-moderncivilisation
and modes of rationality.From Christopher
Columbus and Amerigo Vespucci to the
Japanese invasionof China duringthe Second
World War, the colonising gesture was a
manoeuvre of powerful phallicdrives,a violent
act of copulationthat is often difficultto disguise.
SigneArnfred,the editor of the volume,ReSexualitiesinAfrica(2004), alludesto this
thinking
in her introductionbut reinforcesthe point in
inAfrica:
Sexuality/Sexuality
her chapter,'African
Talesand Silences'which reconfiguressexology

Re-thinking
Sexual'ties
inAfrica

Edited

in SI(pleA;Aj

(the traditional study of sexuality) with

colonialism.Edward Said's (1978 and 1993)
work on the orientalisationof the orient by the
western gaze and reason, is well known.
Employingthe same tropes and striving for
perhaps similar effects, Arnfred renarrativises
two famous tales of colonial copulation:Rider
Haggard'sKingSolomon'sMines and the tragic
figure of Sarah Bartmann.Haggard'sfamous
story of the colonial quest is set in Southern
Africaand Bartmannwas the unfortunateblack
South African woman carried off from Cape
Town in 1810 to be exhibitedin,mainly,London
and Paris on account of her steatopygic
attributes. In these two accounts of sexual
conquest and denigration,the black subject is
the victim.Thesexualisationof the blacksubject
has always been marked by violence and
menace, and Arnfred'schapterforegroundsthis
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93

Perspective

Unravelling
the silencesof blacksexualities

knowledge.She also remindsus that apartfrom

the unusualcase of Amina Mama,a scholar of
gender studieswho attemptsto tacklethe topic
of Africansexualities,other scholarswith similar
concerns such as lfi Amaduimeand Oyeronke
Oyewumi have, on their own part, avoided it.
Heike Becker(2004:37) adds more insightas to
why the issue of African sexualities remains
problematic:
Africansand theirsexualityweresavage;at
issue was merelywhetherAfricansexuality
was of the noble or the ignoblesavage
protagonistsagreedthat it had to
variety...
be contained...

Multiracialsex
remainsa
highlyvolatile
act and issue

These views obviouslyevincewhy the

discourses revolvingaround African
sexualitieshave had such a hardtime
gettingoffthe ground.
The volume does muchto reveal
the range of Africansexualitiesand
the multipleways in which they can
be addressed, problematised and
conceptualised. After the lingering
effects of colonialismon the black
sexual subject,there is the need to
rehumanisethe very domainof black
sexualityand one of the ways to do
so is to recognise as Liselott
Dellenborg (2004:88) points out in
the volume that:

...besidesbeinga veryindividuol
experience
that is difficultto measureand compare,
sexualityand sexualpleasureare culturally
and sociallyconstructed.
Furthermore, regional agendas on how to
conceive of, and mobilisediscourseson sexuality
need not be similar and are, in fact, often
oppositional in nature. Indeed, as Dellenborg
(2004:90) points out:
...at the United Nation's Second World
Conferenceon Womenin Copenhagenin
1980,forinstance,Westemfeministsvexed
women fromthe ThirdWorldcountriesby
94

debating on the quality of clitoraland

vaginalorgasm.
Of course, this did not go down well with
participantsfrom the South as other more
pressing concerns such as the 'lack of clean
water and fuel, and high maternal and child
mortality'were more to the point for them.
Undoubtedly, some of the ideas and
concepts explored in the volume are
controversial.Kopano Ratele,in a contribution
aptly titled 'KinkyPolitics',begins by modestly
claimingthat'manypeople aroundthe world still
find inter-racial,inter-cultural,
inter-religious,or
inter-ethnic coupling irritating or at best
titillating...'(2004:
139). And then within the
context of post-apartheid South Africa, he
arguesthat (2004:144):
...young men and women should be
sexual
encouragedto have good,'normal',
with
intercourseat the earliestopportunity
a personof anotherrace or ethnicgroup
beforethey reacha certainage. It may be
one wayof attainingliberatedmasculinities.
Most crucial,though,good interracialsex
could have a deep significance for
ournationalpolitics.
reconstructing
Ratele correctly admits that his suggestion is
indeed provocative.Perhapsit is only possibleto
advancethis line of argumentin post-apartheid
South Africa. Certainly,it would be a very
difficultargument to conceive and project in
mainstreamAmericawhere the historyof racial
violenceand oppressionis no less violent (West,
1993; Gates and West, 1996). Multiracialsex
remains a highlyvolatile act and issue. Nagel
(2003:261) states:
Havingsex with an Othermightreflecta
heartfeltlongingoract of rebellionor a way
to demean and defile anotherperson or
group.No motivationis likelyto be entirely
puresince it is hardto untanglethe desire
fromthe disdain.
On a broader level, multiracialsex might also

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Perspective

the silencesof blacksexualities

Unravelling

havea profoundimpacton populationstudiesas

the following passage suggests (The Observer
cited by Nagel,2003: 258).
Whiteswillbe an ethnicminority
in Britain
by
the end of the centuryandin Londonby the
end of the decade... it wouldbe the first
time in historythat a major indigenous
population
has voluntarily
becomea minority,
ratherthanthroughwagfamineordisease...
Thepopulation
of ethnicminorities
has been
growingat between 2 and 4 percent a
year... At the same tme, birthratesamong
whiteBritonshavefallento negativelevelsless thentwochildren
per woman.
Another concept explored in the book, which
though slightly less controversial, also
neverthelessdeserves attention.Inthe mid-'90s,
anthropologistJane Guyer theorised what she
termed polyandrousmotherhood.In her words:
Ipolyandrousmotherhood is a liaisonconsisting
of women cultivatingco-parentalties with more
than one fatherof their children'(Guyercited by
Haram,2004: 224). Guyer'sethnographiclocale
for the concept is South-west Nigeria,but in an
exceptionally revealing contribution, Haram
demonstrates how it works in East Africa,
In relationto how the concept
notablyTanzania.
works in South-west Nigeria,I would want far
more concrete empiricalevidence.Thisis not to
say that such cases are not to be found in the
region.But we need to know more about the
frequencyof such cases, the modes of cultural
resistance and acceptance it encounters, and
also the socialstratain which it is most manifest.
One gets an idea of these details in Haram's
chapterbut perhapsGuyer'swork,which serves
as the primaryconceptualmodel,ought to have
been better highlightedso that we get a fuller
pictureof the social significanceof the concept.
A numberof the contributorsto the volume
rehash the usual debates about women's
liberationinAfrica.Perhapsthis is not the kindof
volume to address such preoccupations sexualityis the central concern here. However,
we get quite a broadpictureof Africanreactions
to the HIV/AIDSpandemic.There are also

competent explorations of themes of female

genitalmutilation.And as for sexualityitself,we
are remindedin several instances,notablyby Jo
Helle-Valle(2004:206):
...not only that differentpeople relate to
and practicesex in differentways,but that
sexual mores and practicesin fact meon
many differentthingsfor eoch and every
individual,
dependingon the socio-cultural
contextsthey toke place within.
Let us returnto the issue of the relativesilence
on black/colonisedsexualities.The encounter of
'black'subjectivity
with Euro-modemityhas been
pointed out to be staged within
unhidden domains of sexuality.This
encounter is often described as a
violent and traumatic one for the
black/colonised subject. The locale
(land) of this unfortunate (black)
To be virginis
subject is similarlysexualised and
made pliable for the colonial
to be empty of
encounter Thus, 'Columbus' breast
desire and void
fantasy,like Haggard'smap of Sheba's
of sexual agency
Breasts,draws on a long traditionof
maletravelas an eroticsof ravishment.
Forcenturies,the uncertaincontinents
- Africa,the Americas and Asia were figured in European lore as
libidinouslyeroticised (McClintock,
1995). McClintock(1995: 30) also
comments on a mythof virginitythat is inherent
in this kindof colonialimagination:
Themythof the virginlandis also the myth
of the emptyland,involving
both a gender
and racialdispossession.
Withinpatriarchal
narratives,to be virginis to be empty of
desireand voidof sexual agency,passively
male insemination
awaitingthe thrusting,
of
and
reason.
language
history,
its inhabitantswere conceived'as naTve
Similarly,
and childlike in their nudity,simple in their
spirituality,primitive in their technology, and
cooperative in dealings'(Nagel, 2003: 65). But
even alongside this myth of virginity,the
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95

Perspective

the silencesof blacksexualities

Unravelling

colonial/virginised
landscapeand body were also
infusedwith a contradictorymyththat spoke of
excessive sexualviolence.Inother words,it'was
more like Sodom and Gomorrah,filled with
cruel torturers,depravedcannibals,treacherous
men and licentious women' (Nagel, 2003:65).
Whenever the black subject displayed any
capacity for sexual agency it was promptly
demonised. These various projections about
black sexuality characterised the colonial
encounter Rightfrom its encounter with Euromodernity,black sexuality had a number of
barrierswith which to contend and this may
have led to its problematiclack of visibility,its
constant (de)ideologisationand (de)silencingin
manycontradictoryways.Ratherthan
foster a liberation of African
sexualities,colonialismoften tried to
denude it of agency and demonised
Whenever the
any tendency towards and/or
evidence of its independence.We are
blacksubject
yet to study the effects of this
displayedany
profound violence. To be sure, the
capacityfor
project of political decolonisation
would
not be complete without a
sexual agency it
concomitant decolonisation of the
was promptly
importantdomainof sexuality.
demonised
In postcoloniality
Africansexualkties
experience slightlydifferentforms of
violencefromthe imperial/colonial
kind,
whichare often mediatedby factorsof
history,culture(andsometimesreligion)
and also positioningwithinthe currentwave of
globalisation. Political decolonisation, just as
postmodernism or postcolonialism, is often
problematicwhen subjectedto universalisation.
Let us examinethe question of sexualitiesin
post-apartheid South Africa and eventually
compare it with the situationin Nigeria.Justas
the project of deapartheidisation and
deracialisationhas been quite engaging and
frustrating,in turns so has been the project of
the deconstruction of the consciousness of
heteronormativity.On the one hand, Posel
(forthcoming:14) claimsthat:
... alongwiththe rightto sexualpreference
hos come legislation prohibitingany
96

on sexualgrounds,whichhas
discrimination
opened spoces for the growthof assertive
andvocalgay andlesbiansocialmovements,
together with uninhibited displays of
alternative
sexualitieswhichwouldpreviously
have been unthinkable.
Lesbionand gay
relotionshipsare frequentlydepicted in
mainstreamtelevisionsoap operas, aired
duringmaximumviewingtimes.
On the other hand,the spectre of a new kindof
sexual policing looms, in which the modern
sexual subject is presented as 'one who is
knowledgeable,responsible,in control,and free
to make informedchoices' (Posel,forthcoming:
I1) and yet requiresa considerabledegree of
control and supervision. The point is
(forthcoming:23):
...disciplining
the body,andstabilising
the family,
are techniques for the productionof a
procreativeand life-sustainingsexuality.If
on the otherhand,sex destabilises
the
unruly,
familyand corruptsthe body.Withinthis
symbolicschema, therefore,aspirationsto
nationhoodare intimatelylinked to the
productive
disciplining
of sexualityas a forceof
orderratherthanchaos,liferatherthandeath.
The new stricturesof policingshouldbe evident
enough.Here,we havethe beginningsof a new
regime of codificationand sanitisationthrough
greaterand more rigorousmedicalisation.
Inspiteof the generalmood of post-apartheid
liberation,
the threatof repressionis alwayslurking.
Homophobiaand the oppressioncaused by the
entrenchmentof heteropatriarchycontinue to
be a serious impediment towards sexual
decolonisation.Similarly,
the violence, arrogance
and penchantfor insensitivecodificationof EuroAmericanqueer identitypolitics,more often than
not, have not helped matters.Sexual freedom
entailsan overcomingof the antagonismsof class,
the legaciesof racism,the divisivenessof gender
andthe violenceof variousformsof homophobia
The remarksof Robert Mugabe,a notorious
homophobe, exemplify a dominant strain of
sexualintolerancewithinthe Africancontinent

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the silencesof blacksexualities

Unravelling

Perspective

I find it extremely outrageous and

repugnantto my human consciencethat
such immoraland repulsiveorganizations,
likethose of homosexualswho offendboth
againstthe law of natureand the moralsof
religiousbeliefs espoused by our society,
shouldhaveanyadvocatesin ourmidstand
even elsewherein the world.If we accept
as a rightas is beingargued
homosexuolity
by the associationof sodomistsand sexual
perverts,what moralfibreshalloursociety
ever have to deny organizeddrugaddicts,
the rights
or even those givento bestiolity,
they mightclaim and allege they possess
freedomand
underthe rubricsof individual
humanrights,includingthe freedomof the
Press to write,publish,and publicisetheir
literatureon them?
(NewYorkTimes,2 August995).

community.A point about sexual identitiesand

nation-buildingprojects:many studies indicate
that the nation-building project is usually
and sexist at its foundationsand in its
patriarchal
essentialthrusts.Thus,as Nagel (2003:30) states:
... good citizenshiprelies on appropriate
sexual behavior and proper gender
performance. Good citizens are
heterosexual,voliant(in the case of men)
and virtuous(in the case of women).
Sexualityand gender,thus, are important
buildingblocksof the nation.

sexual identities,most
So ratherthan multiplying
democraciesand politicalsystemstend
to stifle the democratisation(and in
some cases, the empowerment) of
sexual identities. In the age of
The
the regulationof the general
HIV/AIDS,
economy of sexualityby the nationnation-building
In Africa,current thinking has not begun to
the state and its numerousorgansand
project is
conceive of sexual decolonisationas a central
agencies- has acquirednew forms of
part of the larger project of political
usually
legitimationby which in the name of
decolonisation.A recent book MessayKebede's
life, health and the fatherlandmore
patriarchal
Africa'sQuest for a Philosophyof Decolonization
stringent impositions and limitations and sexist at
(2004) repeats the same old mistakes and
are institutedfor the benefrtof the
prejudices about the generally wide-ranging generalgood.
its foundations
project of decolonisation.In other words, no
Now what is the situation in
analysisof gender or sexualityis made.However, Nigeria?Arguably,sexuality has not
queer theorists in Africa are now confidently been as elaboratelynamed, scripted
2001: 198): and codified within the project of
advancingthe argumentthat (Spurlin,
as it hasbeen in
decolonisationandnation-building
thatwe addressseriouslythe
...itis important
SouthAfrica.Butthisvery lacunawithinthe politics
effectedthroughhomophobic
psychicviolence,
of sexual articulationwith all its attributesof
strategies of excessive codificationand
namelessnessand formlessness,has the potential
directedtowardthe lesbiansand
regulation,
of presentinga universeof sexualitieswithinwhich
axes of
gay men outsidethe Euroamerican
the very project and script of sexualitycan be
queerpoliticsso thot we may morecredibly
rewritten.Converselyft should be pointed out
work towardsthe liberatoryimperativesof
of sexualitycan
that whilethe over-ideologisation
both fields of inquiryand help revise the
lead to the acquisitionof greater space for
heterosexistand other oppressiveways in
discourseson, and practicesof, sexualityit could
and cultural
whichself citizenship,
community,
SouthAfricais
also leadto its eventualfossilisation.
identity and difference are presently
better inserted withinthe global system than is
and understood.
Nigeriabut it has the feverishanxietiesof race,
configured
withwhichto
miscegenationand nationrebuilding
This view is quite prominent in South Africa contend. Nigeria's encounter with modernity
which has a rather active gay and lesbian (sexuality,as Foucault argues, is a modern
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97

Unravelling
the silencesof blacksexualities

phenomenon)is less even and more problematic

than isthe situationin SouthAfrica,but it does not
face the traumatismsof race and miscegenation.
the stumblingblocksto the broadeningof
Rather,
sexualspace and discourseincludethe legaciesof
prolonged militarism,the severe disconnection
between the phenomenon of sexualityand the
nation-building
project,the weak articulationof
issuesof genderwithinthe publicdomain,general
homophobia, lack of systematically visible
alternativesexualitiesand the relative isolation
from, and disempowermentby,globaltrends in
sexuality.

Perspective

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SexuolIdentities
in
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Decolonization,
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KelskyK (1996) 'Flirtingwith the Foreign:Interracial
Sex inJapan's"lnternational"Age',
in RWilson &W
Dissanayake(eds) Global,Local:CulturalProduction
and the TransnationalImaginary,Durham and
London:Duke UniversityPress.
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and Sexualityin the ColonialConquest,New York
and London:Routledge.
Nagel J (2003) Race,Ethnicityand Sexuality:Intimate
Intersections,
Forbidden
Frontiers,
New York:Oxford
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See
the following for various assessments of this
Helle-ValleJ (2004) 'UnderstandingSexualtiyinAfrica:
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Kelsky,1996.
Sanya Osha has a PhD in Philosophyand taught in Nigerian universities for almost a decade.

He has held variousresearchpositionsin the UnitedStates,the Netherlandsand SouthAfrica.

Althoughhis area of specialisationis contemporaryAfricanthought and AfricanStudies
he has done workin culturalstudies,literature,
genderstudiesandAfricansexualities.
generally,
He is currentlyaffiliatedwiththe Centrefor CivilSociety,Universityof KwaZulu-Natal,
South
Africa.Email:babaosha@yahoo.com
98

Agenda62 2004

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