From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Afrofuturism , as a genre, describes fictional works which encompass
Black science fiction and may engage with any and all structural elements of the broader umbrella of subgenres (
horror ,
fantasy ,
magical realism ,
historical fiction , etc.) classified under Black speculative fiction.
[1]
[2]
[3]
Afrofuturist literary works resist singular notions of a “Black” cultural experience.
[4] Instead, Afrofuturist narratives draw upon a variety of ethnic, national, regional histories and cosmologies, as well as indigenous religious frameworks.
[5] Thematically, Afrofuturist literature delves into revisionist or
alternative history making, while galvanizing conversations on
social injustice and
Black liberation . Afrofuturist literature investigates questions of Black intellectual production, materiality, and intellectual ownership, while reimagining the potential futures of individuals within the
Afrodiaspora .
[6]
The emerging genre of Afrofuturist literature is influenced by two strands,
Afro-pessimism and Black optimism.
[7] Afro-pessimism asserts that the violence of colonialism and slavery contributes to a definition of Blackness as a state of non-being. In this state, Black individuals exist within and yet are alienated from the rest of society.
[8] In Afrofuturist literature, Afro-pessimism underscores a bleak view of futurity and any inherent possibility for Black self-determination and social advancement.
[9]
[10] In contrast, Black optimism reconsiders Blackness after slavery and colonialism relative to modernity, technology, and culture. Black optimism emphasizes Blackness as a complete and holistic state of being.
[11] It rejects the essentialism and inherent abjectness of socially-determined “Blackness” as portrayed in Afro-pessimism.
[12]
[13] Within the context of Afrofuturist literature, the Black imaginary and its creative expression are essential pivot points for self-determining futurity.
List of Afrofuturist literature
Author(s)/Editor(s)
Year
Title
Brissett, Jennifer Marie
2014
Elysium, Or, The World After
[14]
Butler, Octavia
1979
Kindred
Du Bois, W. E. B.
1920
Darkwater: Voices from Within the Veil
[15]
Ellison, Ralph
1952
Invisible Man
Hopkinson, Nalo
1998
Brown Girl in the Ring
[16]
Jemisin, N.K .
2015
The Fifth Season
Jennings, John; Robinson, Stacey
2013
Black Kirby: In Search Of: The Motherboxx Connection
[17]
[18]
Due, Tananarive
1997
My Soul to Keep
[19]
Farmer, Nancy
1994
The Ear, the Eye and the Arm
[20]
Wilson, Kai Ashante
2015
The Sorcerer of the Wildeeps
James, Marlon
2019
Black Leopard, Red Wolf
[21]
Schuyler, George
1931
Black No More
Adeyemi, Tomi
2018
Children of Blood and Bone
[22]
Tutuola, Amos
1952
The Palm-Wine Drinkard
Callender, Kacen
2019
Queen of the Conquered
[23]
Johnson, Mat
2011
Pym
[24]
Okri, Ben
1991
The Famished Road
Deonn, Tracy
2020
Legendborn
Whitehead, Colson
2011
Zone One
[25]
Bayron, Kalynn
2020
Cinderella is Dead
Ifueko, Jordan
2020
Raybearer
[20]
Monáe, Janelle
2022
The Memory Librarian: And Other Stories of Dirty Computer
[26]
Clarke, Matthew; Lynch, Nigel
2021
Hardears
[27]
[28]
Fielder, Tim
2021
Infinitum: An Afrofuturist Tale
[29]
[30]
Campbell, Bill; Hall, Edward Austin
2013
Mothership: Tales from Afrofuturism and Beyond
[31]
Olayiwola, Porsha
2019
i shimmer sometimes, too
[32]
Ashante Wilson, Kai
2015
The Sorcerer of the Wildeeps
Reed, Ishmael
1972
Mumbo Jumbo
[33]
[34]
Lord, Karen
2014
The Galaxy Game
[35]
Roye Okupe
2015
E.X.O.: The Legend of Wale WIlliams
[36]
Johnson, Dawn Alaya
2020
Trouble The Saints
[37]
Kwame, Mbalia
2019
Tristian Strong Punches a Hole in the sky
[38]
Kwame, Mbalia
2020
Tristian Strong Destroys the World
[39]
Banks, Leslie
2003
The Vampire Huntress Legend Series: Minion
[40]
Mbalia, Kwame
2019
Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky
[41]
Ireland, Justina
2018
Dread Nation
[42]
[43]
James, Marlon
2022
Moon Witch, Spider King
[44]
Barnes,
Steven
2002
Lion's Blood
[45]
Jeffery Renard Allen
2014
Song of the Shank
[46]
Jackson, Kosoko
2022
Survive the Dome
[47]
Forma, Namina
2021
The Gilded Ones
[48]
Shawl, Nisi
2016
Everfair
[49]
Nisi Shawl
2008
Filter House
[50]
Fielder, Tim
2018
Infinitum: An Afrofuturist Tale
[51]
Andrea Hairston
2006
Mindscape
[52]
Maurice Broaddus
2022
Sweep of Stars
[53]
Ireland, Justina
2020
Deathless Divide
[54]
Nnedi Okorafor
2015
Binti
Rivers Solomon
2017
An Unkindness of Ghosts
Delany R., Martin
1859
Blake; or the Huts of America
[55]
Thomas R., Sheree
2000
Dark Matter (prose anthologies)
[56]
|-
|Turnbull, Cadwell
|2021
|No gods, no monsters: a novel
|}
References
^ Carrington, André M. (2016-02-29).
Speculative Blackness: The Future of Race in Science Fiction . U of Minnesota Press.
ISBN
978-1-4529-4975-8 .
^ Lavender (III), Isiah (2019).
Afrofuturism Rising: The Literary Prehistory of a Movement . Ohio State University Press.
ISBN
978-0-8142-5556-8 .
^ Bould, Mark (2007).
"The Ships Landed Long Ago: Afrofuturism and Black SF" . Science Fiction Studies . 34 (2): 177–186.
ISSN
0091-7729 .
JSTOR
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^ Culture, Nat'l Mus Afr Am Hist (2023-03-21).
Afrofuturism: A History of Black Futures . Soho Press.
ISBN
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^ McDougall, Audrey Suzanne (2020-05-15).
"Afrofuturism: Blackness, Sound, and Counter-Narratives" . Journal of Integrated Studies . 12 (1).
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^ Ogbunu, C. Brandon.
"How Afrofuturism Can Help the World Mend" . Wired .
ISSN
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^ Hill-Jarrett, Tanisha G. (2023).
"The Black radical imagination: a space of hope and possible futures" . Frontiers in Neurology . 14 .
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10.3389/fneur.2023.1241922 .
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^ Wilderson, Frank B., III (2020-04-07).
Afropessimism . Liveright Publishing.
ISBN
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cite book }}
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link )
^ Day, Iyko (2015).
"Being or Nothingness: Indigeneity, Antiblackness, and Settler Colonial Critique" . Critical Ethnic Studies . 1 (2): 102–121.
doi :
10.5749/jcritethnstud.1.2.0102 .
ISSN
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JSTOR
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^ Warren, Calvin L. (2015-03-01).
"Black Nihilism and the Politics of Hope" (PDF) . CR: The New Centennial Review . 15 (1): 215–248.
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ISSN
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^ Moten, Fred (2008).
"The Case of Blackness" . Criticism . 50 (2): 177–218.
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^ Hart, William David (2018-01-01).
"Constellations: Capitalism, Antiblackness, Afro-Pessimism, and Black Optimism" . American Journal of Theology & Philosophy . 39 (1): 5–33.
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ISSN
0194-3448 .
^ Moten, Fred (2008).
"Black Op" . PMLA . 123 (5): 1743–1747.
ISSN
0030-8129 .
JSTOR
25501981 .
^
"Afrofuturism beginner's reading list: Octavia E. Butler, N.K. Jemisin, Janelle Monáe, more" . www.usatoday.com . Retrieved 2023-02-05 .
^ Cheatam, Safiyah (2020-07-31).
"Making a Case for W.E.B. Du Bois as a Proto Afrofuturist" . The Drinking Gourd . Retrieved 2023-02-15 .
^
"Narrative Muse | Brown Girl in the Ring | Book" . Narrative Muse . Retrieved 2023-02-17 .
^ Jennings, John; Robinson, Stacey (2013).
Black Kirby . Buffalo, NY: Black Kirby Collective in association with Eye Trauma Studio/ J2D2/ URBAN KREEP ENTERPRISES and Trimekka Studios.
^
"BSO" . BSO . Retrieved 2024-04-29 .
^ Sanchez-Taylor, Joy (2020-03-22).
"Alternative Futurisms: Tananarive Due's African Immortal Series" . Extrapolation . 61 (1): 91–109.
doi :
10.3828/extr.2020.7 .
S2CID
218944753 .
^
a
b
"Afrofuturism Fiction Suggestions for Kids, Teens & Adults" . The New York Public Library . Retrieved 2023-02-15 .
^ Power, Ed.
"Book Review: Black Leopard, Red Wolf" . Hotpress . Retrieved 2023-02-15 .
^ II, Vann R. Newkirk (2018-03-06).
"Where Fantasy Meets Black Lives Matter" . The Atlantic . Retrieved 2023-02-15 .
^
"Explore Afrofuturism, Sci-Fi, and Fantasy" . Carmel Clay Public Library . Retrieved 2023-02-15 .
^
"An Afro Futurism book - Extreme Reader 2021" . Tacoma Public Library . Retrieved 2023-02-15 .
^
"Afrofuturism beginner's reading list: Octavia E. Butler, N.K. Jemisin, Janelle Monáe, more" . www.usatoday.com . Retrieved 2023-02-15 .
^ Kearse, Stephen (2022-04-19).
"Janelle Monáe's Queer, Afrofuturist Literary Debut" . The New York Times .
ISSN
0362-4331 . Retrieved 2023-02-17 .
^ Lynch, Clarke, Matthew & Nigel.
"Hardears" . Library Journal . Retrieved 2023-02-22 . {{
cite web }}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (
link )
^ Bould, Mark (2007).
"The Ships Landed Long Ago: Afrofuturism and Black SF" . Science Fiction Studies . 34 (2): 177–186.
ISSN
0091-7729 .
JSTOR
4241520 .
^
"Infinitum: An Afrofuturist Tale: Illustrator-Author Tim Fielder Looks to the Future With a Modern Epic" . The Root . 2021-02-26. Retrieved 2023-02-22 .
^ Fielder, Tim (2021-01-19).
Infinitum: An Afrofuturist Tale . HarperCollins.
ISBN
978-0-06-306788-2 .
^ Campbell, Bill; Hall, Edward Austin (2013).
Mothership: Tales from Afrofuturism and Beyond . Rosarium Publishing.
ISBN
978-0-9891411-4-7 .
^ Olayiwola, Porsha (2019). i shimmer sometimes, too . Button Poetry.
ISBN
978-1-9437354-5-7 .
^ Kim, Myungsung (2018).
"The Grapevine Telegraph "Jes Grew": Sonic Materialism, Afrofuturism and Information Theory in Ishmael Reed's Mumbo Jumbo" . TOPIA: Canadian Journal of Cultural Studies . 39 : 89–109.
doi :
10.3138/topia.39.05 .
ISSN
1916-0194 .
S2CID
165304856 .
^ Reed, Ishmael (2013-01-29).
Mumbo Jumbo . Open Road Media.
ISBN
978-1-4532-8797-2 .
^
"Must-Read Afrofuturism and Africanfuturism Books | Penguin Random House" . PenguinRandomhouse.com . Retrieved 2023-03-16 .
^ Ito, Robert (2021-02-07).
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^
"Finding Room for Black Hope, Black Justice, and Black Love in Noir Fiction" . CrimeReads . 2020-07-31. Retrieved 2023-04-29 .
^ Stephens, John (2019-10-23).
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^
"Review: Tristan Strong Destroys the World by Kwame Mbalia" . Bayley Reads Books . 13 July 2021. Retrieved 2023-04-29 .
^
"Afrofuturism Fiction Suggestions for Kids, Teens & Adults" . New York Public Library . Retrieved 2023-04-29 .
^
"Traversing the Gaps: An Afrofuturist Approach to Social Change Through Dreaming in Science Fiction and STEM/Computer Science Education * Journal of Futures Studies" . Journal of Futures Studies . Retrieved 2023-04-30 .
^
"Afrofuturism & Afrofantasy List" . Washoe County Library System . Retrieved 2024-02-15 .
^
"Afrofuturism" . The Seattle Public Library . Retrieved 2024-04-19 .
^
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^ Ebert, Chaz.
"Reprise: The Evolution of Afrofuturism: Black Power, Black Love, Black Superheroes and Magic | Chaz's Journal | Roger Ebert" . www.rogerebert.com/ . Retrieved 2024-02-15 .
^ Antonucci, Michael (2024-02-14).
"African Time Machine: An Interview with Jeffery Renard Allen" . BIG OTHER . Retrieved 2024-02-15 .
^
"Afrofuturism" . The Indianapolis Public Library . Retrieved February 26, 2024 .
^ Smith, Dywanna; Johnson, Kenesha; Eaddy, Kiana (2024).
"And Then the Black Birthed Me: Celebrating Black Girlhood in Middle Level ELA Classrooms Through Afrofuturism" . South Carolina Association for Middle Level Education Journal . 3 (3): 122–129.
^ sonofsagan (2019-12-01).
"Afrofuturism's Specter: Alternate History, Racial Capitalism, and Nisi Shawl's "Everfair" " . Sean Guynes . Retrieved 2024-03-22 .
^
"Science Fiction by Women: Afrofuturism Edition" . www.chipublib.org . 2019-02-20. Retrieved 2024-03-22 .
^
"Infinitum: An Afrofuturist Tale (Hardcover) by Tim Fielder" . sistahscifi . Retrieved 2024-03-22 .
^ Takács, Bogi (2018-10-23).
"QUILTBAG+ Speculative Classics: Mindscape by Andrea Hairston" . Reactor . Retrieved 2024-03-22 .
^
"Writing an Afrofuturist Space Opera - Tor/Forge Blog" . www.torforgeblog.com . Retrieved 2024-04-19 .
^
"Afrofuturism and Africanfuturism" . www.powells.com . Retrieved 2024-04-23 .
^ Han, Yoonji (2023-02-28).
"22 Afrofuturist books that reimagine worlds from a Black perspective" . Business Insider Africa . Retrieved 2024-04-27 .
^
"Afrofuturism, Dark Matter, and the Divine: A Conversation with Maxine Montgomery on Black Is King" . TriQuarterly . Retrieved 2024-04-27 .
No gods, no monsters: a novel
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