African American Speculative Fiction

Although there exists an extensive history of African American speculative fiction dating back to the nineteenth century, recent years have seen the proliferation of works by African American authors that include non-realist elements. Yet, the canon of African American literature continues to be associated with realist genres. This course will survey some of the main authors of African-American speculative fiction in order to reconfigure traditional understandings of the aesthetic and social functions of black literature. We will begin with a general consideration of the fantastic in literature. Then, we will look at how contemporary black writers, filmmakers and musicians have used speculative methods to imagine racial difference and construct non-mainstream ways of producing and transmitting cultural knowledge.

Required Materials:

Octavia Butler, Wildseed

Samuel Delany, Dhalgren

Tananarive Due, The Living Blood

Jewelle Gomez, The Gilda Stories

Nalo Hopkinson, Midnight Robber

Ishmael Reed, Mumbo Jumbo

George Schuyler, Black No More

Sheree Thomas, Ed. Dark Matter

Schedule

Week 1: Introduction to course

Selections from Todorov, The Fantastic (copy)

Essays in Dark Matter

Week 2: Film: The Last Angel of History

Afrofuturism in music

Excerpt from Eshun, More Brilliant than the Sun

Week 3: Schuyler, Black No More

Hopkins, Of One Blood

Week 4: Reed, Mumbo Jumbo

Week 5: Delany, Dhalgren

Week 6: Gomez, The Gilda Stories

Week 7: Butler, Wildseed

Week 8: Due, The Living Blood

Week 9: Hopkinson, Midnight Robber

Week 10: Addison and Saunders stories in Dark Matter

Course Synthesis