African Queenlessness
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Heterosexual Africa?: The History of an Idea from the Age of Exploration to the Age of AIDS
by Marc Epprecht
Ohio University Press. 231 pages, $19.95

THE IDEA that homosexuality can be imported from one country (or continent) to the next like a bag of exotic coffee beans is a persistent notion in colonial lore. The myth has especially strong roots when it comes to the continent of Africa. We’ve all heard the charge: Africa never had a “problem” with homosexuality before colonization, when those nasty French and English settlers, decked out in their imperialist safari hats, planted the seeds of sodomy on the continent.

Heterosexual Africa? explores how Africa’s singular identity as a heterosexual continent came about.