Review: Marc Epprecht. Heterosexual Africa? The History of an Idea from the Age of Exploration to the Age of AIDS.

Abstract

The presence or absence of homosexuality in Africa is certainly one of the most hotly contested debates in academic and political circles in recent years. This debate was orchestrated partly because of the desire of African homosexuals to come out of the closet and secure legal and institutional recognition for their sexual orientation, which is considered "unnatural," "abnormal" and "unAfrican" by mainstream heterosexual Africa. At the center of this seemingly intractable contestation is a well-articulated position that same-sex affairs are not only alien to the continent but were introduced by foreigners, notably Westerners, during colonial rule. Some African leaders like Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe and Yoweri Museveni of Uganda launched formidable repressive attacks aimed at "cutting the head of the roaring monster." The release of important studies like Murray and Roscoe's Boy-Wives and Female Husbands, Marc Epprecht's Hungochani and Neville Hoad's African Intimacies, among others, signals a new turning point in academic engagement with sexuality discourses. These authors denounced the absence of non-normative sexuality in Africa by looking at institutionalized forms of same-sex affairs among some select African ethnic groups.