Infinite Possibilities in a Nigerian Lesbian Love Story

Abstract

Referring to the role of African literary writers as social critics, this chapter focuses on literary texts that enable a reimagination of Christianity and sexual diversity in contemporary Africa. As a case in point, it discusses the novel Under the Udala Trees by the Nigerian writer Chinelo Okparanta (2015). Set in the aftermath of the Biafra war (1967-70), the novel tells the love story between two young women. The chapter explores how Christianity is a central theme in the novel, in a twofold way. First, the novel narrates the ambivalent experiences of the protagonist with the church as a space of rejection and ‘deliverance’ as well as of refuge and comfort. Second, the novel shows how the Bible has become a battleground in the debate about homosexuality, used to condemn same-sex love, while foregrounding alternative, liberating biblical interpretations.