Embracing My Shadow: Growing Up Lesbian in Nigeria is a 2020 memoir by Nigerian writer and activist Unoma Azuah. It recounts Azuah's experiences growing up as a lesbian in her country and her struggles with family expectations, religion, ethnic identity, discrimination, and homophobia. It has been described by as the first published memoir by a Nigerian lesbian.[1][2]
| Author | Unoma Azuah |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | Memoir, autobiography |
| Publisher | Beaten Track Publishing |
Publication date | 1 March 2020 |
| Publication place | Nigeria |
| Pages | 228 |
| ISBN | 9781786453730 |
Background
editAzuah wrote the memoir as a personal account of her childhood, adolescence, and early adulthood in Nigeria. The narrative is set against a social environment in which homosexuality is widely stigmatized and legally restricted. She has stated that the work seeks to document experiences often omitted from mainstream Nigerian autobiographical writing.[3]
Synopsis
editAzuah begins from her childhood to adulthood, describing her experiences of abuse, ethnic discrimination, patriarchy and homophobia. She narrates her ordeal as a black child growing up in a family shaped by the Nigerian Civil War and its aftermath. Her father was a Nigerian soldier, while her mother was Igbo from the former secessionist state of Biafra.
The memoir explores the effects of such conflict, social prejudice, and religious attempts to change her sexual orientation, including Christian deliverance sessions intended to "cure" her homosexuality.[1]
Themes
editSexual identity
editA central theme of the memoir is the writer's process of understanding and accepting her sexual identity within a predominantly heteronormative society. Literary scholars have noted that the memoir presents queerness as part of everyday life rather than as an abstract political issue.[4]
Family and religion
editThe memoir examines the intersection of sexuality, family relationships, and ethnic identity. Azuah reflects on tensions within her family, including her relationship with her parents and the influence of the Nigerian Civil War on her upbringing. The work discusses the role of religion in shaping attitudes toward homosexuality in Nigeria. Scholars have analyzed the memoir as a critique of social taboos and homophobia while documenting the author's search for selfhood and acceptance.[5]
Reception
editEmbracing My Shadow received attention from literary critics and scholars for its contribution to LGBT literature in Africa. Reviewing the work for Africa in Words, Pernille Nailor described it as "a powerful account of growing up lesbian in Nigeria and praised its exploration of gender and sexuality within a restrictive social environment".[6]
The memoir is regarded as a landmark work in Nigerian LGBTQ literature. It has been cited alongside Chike Frankie Edozien's Lives of Great Men: Living and Loving as an African Gay Man as one of the earliest Nigerian memoirs centered on queer experiences.[2]
References
edit- 1 2 "Read an Excerpt from Unoma Azuah's Embracing My Shadow, Nigeria's First Memoir About Being Lesbian, Out Today". Brittle Paper. 1 March 2020. Retrieved 4 June 2026.
- 1 2 Adedayo, Oluwatobi (21 July 2025). "'Queer people were living, loving, suffering, surviving – but invisible': west Africa's groundbreaking gay novel 20 years on". The Guardian. Retrieved 4 June 2026.
- ↑ "POSTPONED: A CLGS Book Event: Unoma Azuah reads from "Embracing My Shadow: Growing Up Lesbian in Nigeria"". CLGS. 4 April 2020. Retrieved 4 June 2026.
- ↑ Chow-Quesada, Emily Shun Man (2 September 2021). "Canonizing the mundane: narrating and transgressing the Nigerian queer self/selves in Unoma Azuah's Embracing My Shadow and Chike Frankie Edozien's Lives of Great Men". Prose Studies. 42 (3): 298–326. doi:10.1080/01440357.2022.2145837. ISSN 0144-0357. Retrieved 4 June 2026.
- ↑ Dogoh, Karen S.; Nwiyi, Joy I. (28 July 2025). "Gender Taboos and Homophobia in Unoma Azuah's Embracing My Shadow: Growing Up Lesbian in Nigeria". The Gender Truth Journal. 2 (1): 1–21. doi:10.53982/gtj.2025.0201.01-j. ISSN 3043-5501. Retrieved 4 June 2026.
- ↑ Authors, Our (21 October 2022). "Review: "Growing up lesbian in Nigeria": Unoma Azuah's "Embracing My Shadow"". africainwords.com. Retrieved 4 June 2026.