AAST 249 - Afrofuturism and Black Speculative Fiction: Black to the Future

FC ARHU CD WINT

4 credits
What are speculative fiction and Afrofuturism? How have they gained momentum in African diasporic literature, art, and popular culture? When Octavia Butler and Charles Delaney coined ‘speculative fiction’ as a genre that challenged absence of Black people in conventional science fiction, they presented models for a future where Black people were subjects not excluded from the narrative of American progress. This course examines the emergence Afrofuturism in 1992 and its application to Black speculative fiction in the 20th and 21 st centuries in an international dialogue on Black identities. Authors will include Butler, Delaney, Gomez, Okri, Hopkinson, and Okarofor. Required field trips include: Westwood Cemetery, Allen Art Museum, Oberlin Underground Railroad Center, and relevant sites in Cleveland.