Gender and Sexuality in Contemporary Nigeria: A Personal Perspective

Photo: Cover, Romeo Oriogun’s book, Burnt Men; photo by Chibuihe-Light Obi

Oluwasegun Romeo Oriogun, Nigerian poet, Artist Protection Fund & SAR Fellow

In Nigeria to be Queer and vocal means to live in danger, as society forces to conform to what it knows as normalcy which in reality is a remnant of colonization. There is no safe space and Queer people are arrested, lynched and in some cases burnt to death. Those who are Queer are forced to hide their identity as even the law criminalizes LGBTQ+ people and imposes sentences of up to fourteen years imprisonment. This persecution has left Queer people to suffer with limited access to good health care or even access to justice. Romeo Oriogun will be talking about this from his personal experience and also from various studies that have been carried out about the Queer community in Nigeria.

Romeo Oriogun is a Nigerian poet whose poems have appeared on Prairie Schooner, Connotation Press, Brittle Paper, and others. He is the winner of the 2017 Brunel International African Prize for Poetry, his manuscript My Body Is No Miracle was shortlisted for the 2018 Sillerman First Book Prize for African Poets. He is currently an Artist Protection Fund Fellow, a Scholars-at-Risk Fellow at the Hutchins Center for African American and African Studies and also a Visiting Poet in the English Department at Harvard University.

Click here for a downloadable poster for the event.

Part of Worldwide Week at Harvard.