BODIES IN PROTEST: SEXUALITY, POWER AND POSTCOLONIAL STRUGGLES IN TANURE OJAIDE'S THE ACTIVIST

Abstract

This study interrogates the thematic preoccupation with sexuality in Tanure Ojaide’s The Activist, situating erotic desire within the broader framework of postcolonial resistance and ideological struggle. While existing scholarship has largely privileged the novel’s environmental activism and political critique of neo-colonial exploitation in the Niger Delta, scant attention has been paid to the narrative centrality of sexuality and its symbolic significance. Drawing on postcolonial theory, particularly insights from Frantz Fanon and Homi Bhabha, this paper argues that sexual preoccupation in The Activist functions as a metaphorical battleground where personal desire intersects with political commitment. Through a close textual analysis, the study demonstrates how erotic relationships both humanise the activist figure and expose the fragility of revolutionary idealism within a corrupt socio-political order. Sexual desire is thus not merely indulgent or distracting; rather, it mirrors the fractured consciousness of the postcolonial intellectual caught between resistance and complicity. Thus, by foregrounding sexuality as a narrative strategy, this paper expands critical understanding of Ojaide’s novel and contributes to broader debates on the intersections of body politics, power, and resistance in postcolonial African fiction.