Thursday, May 26, 2016

From Afrofuturism to Speculative Blackness


Years ago as a graduate student, I became a participant in the yahoo list serv group Afrofuturism (AF) coordinated by Alondra Nelson. That group and the interactions from the many participants greatly assisted in deepening and expanding my interests in the interactions of race, technology, and science or speculative fiction.

Reading André M. Carrington's Speculative Blackness: The Future of Race in Science Fiction (University of Minnesota Press, 2016) took me back and forward. His book had thinking about how much intellectual and cultural stimulation I gained by rolling with that AF group. I was thinking back on how that AF lens shaped my readings of Octavia Butler, Colson Whitehead, Toni Morrison, and others.

Carrington covers Storm, Uhura, Benjamin Sisko, and Carl Brandon -- all topics that took me back to AF. But he also delves into fan culture of SF, all the online fiction communities, and Milestone Media in ways that were pushing me forward in new directions.  

Related:
Speculative Blackness by AndrĂ© M. Carrington 
Afrofuturism  

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