Ambiguities and Contradictions of Queer Representations in E. E. Sule's Makwala

Abstract

This study examines representations of queer realities in E. E. Sules Makwala, highlighting ambiguities and contradictions in queer narratives. The paper argues that in the process of looking for a compromise in the conflict between the traditional past and the technological present in the representation of the queer experience, several ambiguities and contradictions are unearthed. The paper utilises Queer Theory and qualitative, literary analytical method, to show how the duality of sexual orientation has created contradictions as evident in Nigerian queer narratives. The analysis of the primary text, Sule’s Makwala, reveals motifs that create contradictory situations such as gender and identity, birth and death, fight and acceptance, tradition and modernity, nature and nurture. The narrator’s ambiguity in accommodating these contradictions helps to pave the way for the ironical portrayal of events and queer identities. Through the techniques of flashback, symbolism, surrealism, and foreboding, the narrator is able to capture the crisis that accompanies the ambiguities created by the conflicting bid to merge the global experience with that of the indigenous traditional and spiritual heritage in terms of sexual orientations. The paper concludes that the representation of contradictory issues surrounding queer realities and the ambiguity of the narrator in the novel is part of the process of the struggle in the choice for a better path to modernity in indigenous societies.  

Keywords: Queer narratives, Gender studies, Narrative ambiguities, Postcolonial studies