Sexuality, Power and Transgression: Homophobia in Abdulrazak Gurnah's Memory of Departure

Abstract

This paper offers a reading of Zanzibari-born, UK-based writer, Abdulrazak Gurnah’ debut novel, Memory of Departure in order to explore how the novel positions sexual activities that are seen as transgressive and how contestations over these bodily activities imply issues of power (ab)use. I examine how characters who engage in homosexuality and prostitution negotiate for personal autonomy or gain leverage over others. The paper explores the ways in which Gurnah contributes to the conversation about the body and sexuality. I show how embodiment offers a nuanced optic through which to capture the way power hierarchies in Memory of Departure are exercised. The paper suggests that an exploration of narrative representations of the gendered body offers insight on how sexual practices become narrative sites for scripting and contesting agency. Further, the paper suggests that the novel utilises various aspects of characters’ bodies – physical, sexual, erotic – as sites for inscribing and decrypting social, political, and economic tensions as well as fragmentations.