32212
Graduate Course
WiSe 15/16: Afrofuturism: African-American Speculative Fiction
Tomasz Stompor
Comments
This seminar will focus on science-fiction and speculative fiction written by African-American writers. Although science-fiction is a genre mainly dominated by white authors, African-Americans have contributed to it in their own specific way, addressing their central social and political problems. The term Afrofuturism itself was coined by the essayist Mark Dery, who defines it as: "speculative fiction that treats African-American themes and addresses African-American concerns in the context of 20th century technoculture - and more generally, African-American signification that appropriates images of technology and a prosthetically enhanced future." The course readings will cover the historical development of the genre since its beginnings in the late nineteenth century with such works as Martin Delany's Blake (1861), Sutton E. Griggs's Imperium in Imperio (1899), and a variety of twentieth-century century examples, such as George S. Schuyler's Black No More (1931), and works by Octavia Butler, Samuel R. Delany, Walter Mosley, and Ishmael Reed. Since Afrofuturism continues to have an impact on popular culture and music, we will also look at the work of jazz musician Sun Ra and his film Space is the Place (1974). Most readings will be provided via blackboard. close
16 Class schedule
Regular appointments
Fri, 2015-10-16 10:00 - 12:00
Fri, 2015-10-23 10:00 - 12:00
Fri, 2015-10-30 10:00 - 12:00
Fri, 2015-11-06 10:00 - 12:00
Fri, 2015-11-13 10:00 - 12:00
Fri, 2015-11-20 10:00 - 12:00
Fri, 2015-11-27 10:00 - 12:00
Fri, 2015-12-04 10:00 - 12:00
Fri, 2015-12-11 10:00 - 12:00
Fri, 2015-12-18 10:00 - 12:00
Fri, 2016-01-08 10:00 - 12:00
Fri, 2016-01-15 10:00 - 12:00
Fri, 2016-01-22 10:00 - 12:00
Fri, 2016-01-29 10:00 - 12:00
Fri, 2016-02-05 10:00 - 12:00
Fri, 2016-02-12 10:00 - 12:00