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In and Out in Senegal: Unearthing Queer Roots in Mohamed Mbougar Sarr’s De purs hommes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 December 2021

Devin Bryson Open the ORCID record for Devin Bryson [Opens in a new window]
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Abstract

Mohamed Mbougar Sarr’s 2018 novel De purs hommes fictionalizes recent incidents of homophobia in Senegal to interrogate the relationship between queer men and social dynamics in the country. This article demonstrates that the novel deploys multidirectional critical discourse and oblique narrative tactics to highlight the foundational role in Senegalese culture and society of the fraught dichotomy between private and public life. Bryson contends that the novel unearths these queer roots in order to incorporate all normative identities into queer existence, conceptually blurring the social barriers to LGBTQ+ agency in the country.

Résumé

Résumé

Le roman de 2018 de Mohamed Mbougar Sarr, De purs hommes, fictionnalise les récents incidents d’homophobie au Sénégal pour interroger la relation entre les hommes homosexuel et les dynamiques sociales dans le pays. Cet article démontre que le roman déploie un discours critique multidirectionnel et des tactiques narratives obliques pour mettre en évidence le rôle fondamental, dans la culture et la société sénégalaises, de la dichotomie pesante entre vie privée et vie publique. Bryson soutient que le roman déterre ces racines queer afin d’incorporer toutes les identités normatives dans l’existence queer, brouillant conceptuellement les barrières sociales à l’agence LGBTQ+ dans le pays.

Resumo

Resumo

De purs hommes, o romance de Mohamed Mbougar Sarr publicado em 2018, ficciona os recentes incidentes homofóbicos que ocorreram no Senegal, de modo a questionar a relação entre a homossexualidade masculina e as dinâmicas sociais no país. Este artigo demonstra que o romance utiliza um discurso crítico multidirecional, bem como táticas narrativas dissimuladas para sublinhar o papel fundacional, na cultura e na sociedade senegalenses, da problemática dicotomia entre a vida pública e a vida privada. Bryson sustenta que o romance desvenda estas raízes homossexuais com o objetivo de incorporar todas as identidades normativas na existência homossexual, assim dissipando conceptualmente as barreiras sociais à agencialidade LGBTQ+ no país.

Keywords

SenegalLGBTQqueer theorypoliticscultural normsfictionfrancophone literature
Type
Article
Information
African Studies Review , Volume 64 , Issue 4 , December 2021 , pp. 803 - 825
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the African Studies Association

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