When the Editorial board of Chiedza chose “Sexuality in Africa” as the theme for this issue, one of the principal intentions was to find out if the emerging ways of understanding sexuality in Africa today constitute an evolution, a degeneration or a revolution. In addition to the dominant forms of language employed in the understanding of sexuality today, we also wanted to find out which is more valid in the African sexual landscape – sexuality or sexualities. The essays in this volume address, in different tenors, these concerns, sometimes from different assumptions and arriving at different conclusions.

Rather than follow the traditional manner of presenting the contents of each essay sequentially, I will highlight the themes that emerge from this collection and indicate how various authors deal with them. The purpose of this is to stress the conversational attitude that Chiedza hopes to foster. In every conversation, the conversing parties, all concerned with a common subject-matter, come to the conversation with their historically effected consciousness, prejudices and hopes. These, rather than being impediments to a fruitful conversation, are the beginnings of any conversation. As the conversation progresses, the conversing parties gradually experience a kind of elevation. This elevation will be experienced not as a loss of self-possession, but rather as an enrichment of each party (Gadamer 54-5).  In the end, we will feel enriched as the horizons of the conversing parties are fused and the fusion becomes an enlargement of our understanding.

African Cultures

Culture – in its various dimensions: political, economic, social, legal and environmental – always defines correct sexual behaviour in societies that observe the norms of that culture. African cultures are usually praised for their communitarian outlook where the community takes care of every individual within the culture. Communal values and practices are sometimes used to undermine individual needs. One area where this is rife is with childless couples as Precious Nihorowa observes in “The Communal Dimension of Sexuality: Exploring and Reviewing the Concept of Posterity in Traditional Africa in the Context of Childless Couples”. Although life within the institution of marriage is valued in African cultures, Nihorowa argues that the presence of childless couples is one that demands a reconsideration of the African way of viewing sexuality. In analyzing the consequences of being childless in African societies, Nihorowa suggests that the understanding of life can be broadened beyond its biological scope. The communal dimension of sexuality for which Africa is known must not be used as a tool to alienate childless couples from their societies.

Since for many, issues of sexuality in African societies belong to the realm of the sacred, sexual taboos therefore, become important in any discourse about sexuality. Augustin Effa Effa in “Sexualité et tabou au Cameroun: Pudeur ou Inhibition?” evaluates the domain of sexuality and taboos in the Cameroonian society through a case study of the Ewondo people. In considering liberalization in contemporary Cameroonian society, he notes the changes that have occurred in the cultural apprehension of sexuality and sexual taboos. In his analysis of Cameroonian music, Effa shows how this type of music offers a deviation from what was formerly considered as sexual modesty. Since this kind of music has a huge following, mainly the youth, Effa calls for sexual education within families as a way of discussing issues of sexuality with openness and sincerity.

Feminism and Power Relations

For those who appeal to one or more traditional understandings of sexuality, almost divinely constituted roles are assigned to either males or females in a society. It is within this social imaginary that individuals are culturally obliged to understand themselves as sexual beings and living out what such an understanding demands. On this score, it could be said that society confers gender on individuals. But the assignment of gender roles is an expression of the patriarchal hegemony in most African societies. In a world where male dominance is entrenched in quotidian social relationships, Eziokwubundu Amadi calls for the revolutionary change in the way we view women in “Women in Men’s Metanarratives”. Such a change will involve the acknowledgment of the domination of women by men, as well as greater efforts to understand how privilege and oppression are manifested today in both subtle and open ways. The desire to challenge male domination has led to the rise of feminism in its various configurations. At a time when feminists’ movements, in their different shapes, appear to be fashionable, Tobechukwu Edeh in “Sexism, Gender and Feminism”, calls for caution on the part of Africans. The path towards eradicating sexism in Africa does not consist of a mere adoption of the feminist discourse and practices of the West. Rather, it involves a re-evaluation of our African values of community and family alongside the desire for gender equality. This requires conversation and sensitization at all levels of society.

Sexual Identity

In African countries such as Zimbabwe, Sudan and Uganda, homosexual activity is criminal, attracting several penalties including the threat of life sentences. In this context, the South African constitution - which guarantees gays and lesbians the same rights as any other citizen - is the most “liberal” African constitution. According to that constitution, to deny same-sex unions would therefore be a denial of a fundamental constitutional right. But what is the end of human sexuality? “Exorcising the Emerging Ghost of Homosexuality in Africa: Inspiration from Natural Law Theory” by Ivan Kivinge seeks to answer this question. Kivinge does this particularly in exploring the relationship between the sexual act and homosexuality. From reflecting on Thomas Aquinas’ Natural Law Theory, he argues that since the end of sexual intercourse is procreation and homosexual acts are not procreative, we have to conclude that homosexual relations violate natural law and disrespect human values. They cannot therefore, be tolerated.

One of the biggest challenges of this century, argues Negussie Andre Dominic in “Sexual Identity: Biblical and Anthropological Reflections”, is the problem of sexual identities. The presence of Lesbians, Gays, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex (LGBTI) individuals seem to distort traditionally held views about sexual identities. Dominic asks if such sexual identities are compatible with what it means to be human. He reflects on this question using biblical as well as anthropological lenses. He calls for the constant humanizing of sexuality; a humanizing that sees the human person not only in sexual terms. The human person is more than the material, physical body, and hence, should not be treated as a mere thing.

In his study, “Same-Sex Practices: A Study of LGBTI Movements and Allies in Zimbabwe”, Tabona Shoko shows how Lesbians, Gays, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex (LGBTI) groups have been represented in public discourses in Zimbabwe and the limited cultural space in which LGBTI people occupy.  He also presents the main strategies used by LGBTI groups to advocate equality and social inclusion. He therefore calls for the opening up of public spaces in Zimbabwe to include LGBTI issues.

The Media and Sex Education

There is little doubt that the media continues to shape the discourse of sexuality in Africa. With its breadth and increasing ease of access, social media plays an important role in shaping public opinion and understanding sexuality in Africa. By analyzing both the print and electronic media in “The Power of the Media and the Escalation of Sexual Immorality: An Ethical Response”, Kevin Shijja Kuhumba argues that the media has reduced love to sex. This, he argues has led to among other things, increase in premarital sex and sex trafficking through the internet. He therefore calls for the adoption and practice of ethical standards by the media in order to foster the cultivation of virtues and good character in society. This can be achieved when the media focuses on ethical sex education. Grace Richard Kambona takes up this reflection on ethical sex education in “Towards the Incorporation of an Ethical Sex Education into the Tanzanian Educational Curriculum”. Kambona observes that in many countries in Africa, sex education has been introduced into the High School curriculum. This is in a bid to make teenagers understand sexuality. One such country is Tanzania. But, sex education in the Tanzanian education curriculum, she argues, focuses only on biological facts about sex and sexual reproduction, leaving out ethical dimensions about sex. The kind of ethical sex education that Kambona calls for is one that emphasizes values of love, mutual concern, loving respect and deep meaningful communication. The task of ethical sex education is not reserved for teachers only, but also for parents, the Church and civil society.

The Literary

According to Martha Nussbaum, “certain truths about human life can only be fittingly and accurately stated in the language and forms characteristic of the narrative artist […] the terms of the novelist’s art are alert winged creatures, perceiving where the blunt terms of ordinary speech, or of abstract theoretical discourse, are blind, acute where they are obtuse, winged where they are dull and heavy” (5). Thus, this edition of Chiedza contains a literary essay, a short story and a collection of African proverbs. In “Ngũgĩ’ wa Thiong’o’s Literary Landscape”, I discuss one of Africa’s most prominent novelists – Ngũgĩ’ wa Thiong’o.  By exploring the literary landscapes in three of Ngũgĩ’s earlier novels – The River Between, A Grain of Wheat and Petals of Blood, I show how Ngũgĩ uses these narratives to bring to bear the complexities present in Africa’s public life, as well as the variety of responses that characters make in an attempt to come to terms with these complexities. Ngũgĩ’s masterful combination of the traditional novel and a specialized rhetorical style produces a revolutionary political ideology that not only analyzes social dilemmas, but also offers hope for a better Africa. Thus, Ngũgĩ’s use of Art in expressing a political ideology, is one that ends on a confident note of hope for the future of Africa. In their short story, “Backpockets on my Shirt”, Uchechukwu Oguike and Leanne Munyoro bring out the complexity of being homosexual in a Nigerian society. In a way that only narrative can do, Oguike and Munyoro present, through the consciousness of the weird child, disturbing issues of family life, a self-righteous Christian outlook, the contradictions inherent in culture, child marriage and abuse of minors by “men of God”. This gripping story calls for a rethink of society’s attitudes towards homosexuals. In “The African Proverbs”, Tersoo Gwaza presents wisdom from our African forebears. If “Proverbs are the palm oil with which words are eaten”, Gwaza’s collection of African proverbs invites readers to “eat” the words in this edition of Chiedza with the ever-present wisdom of our ancestors.

As the essays in this edition suggest, sexuality in Africa is an issue that demands continued reflection. All of the articles demonstrate this awareness. It is our hope that readers will in turn, continue reflecting on the issues raised and discussed in this edition.

I wish to thank the members of the Chiedza editorial board for their commitment to the journal. I remain grateful to Hubert Niyonkuru, the Assistant Editor-in-Chief (who will serve as Editor-in-Chief for the year 2019) for helping out with the French essay. I am also grateful to Akakpo Ghislain for the commitment in designing this edition. This edition will not be possible without the unwavering support of the indefatigable Professor Anthony Chennells. Thank you so much Prof. I also thank the administration of Arrupe Jesuit University, especially the Pro Vice-chancellor (Academics) and Dean of the School of Philosophy, Dr. Evaristus Ekwueme, from whose office Chiedza is sustained. Finally, I thank the contributors whose generosity in sharing the fruits of their research made this edition possible.

Emmanuel Omoghene Ogwu, SJ

Editor