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Ijeoma in America during the 1960's, as Ijeoma was in Nigeria. I was sooo removed from thoughts of having sex with anyone...male or female, at age 11, 12. or 13. Ok... so, maybe, I'm just naïveté as I say. - but I kept thinking .., " so young?" use of the present tense inscribes this moment in the immediate environment of the reader. The couple Ndidi and Ijeoma embody attests to the possibility of a coexistence and to the greatness that all sorts of couples could represent. The repetition of the conjunction “and” makes all kinds of possibilities intermingle, whether they be sexual possibilities, or ethnic ones. Desiring a better future, daydreaming as Ernst Bloch identifies in The Principle of Hope, function as utopian forerunners and anticipations of a future society where oppression will have disappeared and happiness will have become prevalent. This iconoclastic Utopian impulse is also a militant act. In Nigeria, both Christianity and Islam establish strict, largely patriarchal, systems of government that centralize power. This is because the systems that establish the authority of these religions in Nigeria were developed concurrently with colonization. In the South, South-West and Eastern parts of Nigeria, Christianity was used to establish and expand European colonial authority. While Islam in the North and North-West Nigeria predates European colonisation, the establishment of Islam in West-Africa was also an attempt to centralize and expand power by pre-colonial Hausa Kingdoms. This worked so well that even after the fall of the Hausa Kingdoms to the Sokoto Caliphate in the 1800s, European colonizers were able to use established religious governing structures to consolidate their power.
Speaking of dreams, there are quite a few in this novel, as the main character sometimes wrestles with reality through dreams. You know how it is, when you have so much on your mind, so much to philosophize, but there's no one to truly talk to because your inner life must remain a secret? Moretti, Franco. “‘A Useless Longing for Myself’: The Crisis of the European Bildungsroman, 1898-1914.” Studies in Historical Change. Ed. Ralph Cohen. Charlottesville: U of Virginia P, 1992. 43-59.Under the Udala Trees is a new entry in Okparanta’s ongoing commitment to chronicling the lives of gay and lesbian people in Nigeria. Okparanta won the 2014 Lambda Literary Award for her collection Happiness, Like Water. One of the stories in that collection (America) recounts a transatlantic lesbian relationship, and a mother’s disappointment in what she deems her daughter’s choice to be gay. It also adds to the work of Chinua Achebe (There Was a Country) and Chimamanda Adichie (Half of a Yellow Sun) who have both found ways to reassess the Biafran conflict and the effect it had, and continues to have, on Nigerians. It goes without saying that it is easier for Okparanta to write such a story when we know that she (...) Okparanta has firmly placed her name amongst the ranks of some of our most talented and unflinching writers... A stunning book. Unforgettable Bloch, Ernst. The Principle of Hope. Trans. Stephen Plaice, Neville Plaice, and Paul Knight. Cambridge: MIT P, 1986. Trans. of Das Prinzip Hoffnung. 1954.
But the power of Under the Udala Trees, a book that is both rich in history and magnificently felt, comes not from its panoramic displays of violence and terror, but from its nuanced refusals of grandiosity, its steady and elegant churn. A harrowing coming-of-age tale that, with elegant prose, captures the conflict of the time while illustrating how it resounds today. Okparanta shines a light on the plight of the gay community in Nigeria, where its condemnation is tragically not consigned to the history books Inspired by Nigeria's folktales and its war, Under the Udala Trees is a deeply searching, powerful debut about the dangers of living and loving openly. Zabus, Chantal. “Out in Africa: Queer Desire in Some Anthropological and Literary Texts.” Comparative Critical Studies 6.2 (2009): 251-70.Ijeoma’s awareness of and participation in her internal world and forming an intentional identity is cathartic, even more so because it’s a consistent aspect of Ijeoma’s character. Her persistent reading of the bible — a genuine attempt to understand her “sin” — ends up being what frees her from seeing herself as wrong. Okparanta takes the time to craft both the arguments many queer Christians hear growing up and the ways they fail to hold up under scrutiny. The] use of traditional story structure is interwoven with the simple Biblical language... Okparanta's writing is beautiful and moving If you’ve ever wondered if love can conquer all, read [this] stunning coming-of-age debut.” — Marie Claire
Bolaki, Stella. Unsettling the Bildungsroman: Reading Contemporary Ethnic American Women’s Fiction. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2011. Suleiman, Susan. Authoritarian Fictions. The Ideological Novel as a Literary Genre. New York: Princeton UP, 1983. Okparanta tells a unique and devastatingly hopeful story about the paradox of love: Even in the midst of war, and in a world dominated by violence and prejudice, still, love transcends There's the whole idea of the udala trees, which — the udala fruits represent female fertility. So I wanted to paint the journey of a young girl who is told to be a certain way, thinks about them, and still winds up making a more informed decision for herself. As a young child, when one parent dies, ( I know this from experience), they often feel as though they've lost both parents.The ending was a bit sad and the author's note was a rude awakening, reminding me of the true stand of LGBTQ+ Nigerians and at the moment, there is not true happy ending! I liked that the author spoke about Chidinma. She grew to be a wise young lady a Set in the civil war times in Nigeria, this book centers around a little girl, Ijeoma trying to discover her sexuality whilst fighting the evils of society, hunger, homophobia and all other vices that come with wars. Guha, Ranajit. Subaltern Studies 1: Writing South Asian History and Society. Delhi: Oxford UP, 1996.
once you are done, once you get to the end, this feels very much like a book about being a young gay girl and a gay woman, but there are all these other things too. they are woven together in a lovely and flowing narrative that feels entirely unforced. it feels easy, as if the composing of it were the most natural thing in the world. this makes it a fast read. this is a book one reads fast. Chinelo Okparanta released her debut novel, Under the Udala Trees – a celebration of the revolutionary nature of queer love – in 2015. Since then it has created electric buzz among reading circles owing to the nature of its content: a book that covers the normalcy of homosexuality in Nigeria, a country that is well know for its virulent homophobia and punitive anti-gay laws. In this review, I examine through a series of short bursts of thoughts, the aspects of the novel that stood out to me and make it wholly deserving of the celebration it has received. Religion vs sexuality The City as a Metaphor of Safe Queer Experimentation in Monica Arac de Nyeko's ‘Jambula Tree’ & Beatrice Lamwaka's ‘Pillar of Love’ I grew up with people always reciting these proverbs to me. Between that and all these Bible verses and Bible quotes, I thought that it would be fun to just play around with it in the novel. ...
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Ijeoma’s relationship with Amina deepens as they grow up, and they fall in love. Their blossoming relationship is complicated by a few things. First, Amina is Hausa, and their friendship alone is enough to draw consternation. Second, they are both girls. Even while the war deepens tribal division amongst Nigerians, different groups unite in the joint persecution of queer Nigerians. This persecution is justified through religion. Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi. “The Danger of a Single Story.” July 2009
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