This article questions personhood and normative desire in albinism in African literature in the fictional work of Tara Sullivan’s Golden Boy. It draws attention on the representation of disability in albinism and analyse how this shape identity, personhood, and normalcy in characters with albinism. Using Mary Douglas’s concept of dirt, the paper argues that the disability associated with albinism body forms a central plot of narrative resulting into negative body imagery which affects the identity and personhood of the persons with albinism. The article agrees with Frederick J. White notion of personhood as a relational construct in which personhood is a conditional state of value defined by the society. In this article I argue that the accidental quality attached to albinism does not render characters with albinism less human as they forge the identity in a hostile environment.
