APQ - APPON PHILOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY

Queer Theory refutes the notion of an absolute identity of the self, especially as it concerns sexuality. It concerns with the deconstruction of the binary of male/female in gender studies. Essentially, Queer Theory is a prominent perspective employed to dislodge fixed and stable characterizations of gender and identity in Western societies. Upon a consideration of traditional Yoruba sexuality, I find some places of parallels with Queer Theory, which to my mind, has not been properly explored in spite of the unique outlook of the Yoruba on sexuality. In this study, I employ ordinary language analysis as a methodology to investigate traditional Yoruba discourse on sexuality to make these parallels as vivid as possible, and then use same to uncover the flexible nature of gender relations and the place of homosexuals among the Yoruba in Africa prior to contact with non-Africans. From these, I counter the contemporary comprehension of the phenomenon and the criminalization of the Queer even when these were not evident in the primordial times.

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