How does science fiction offer hope for the marginalized African voice? In imagining the future how do science fiction writers lift themselves of oppression? Kodwo Eshun in his essay “Further Considerations on Afrofuturism”, speaks specifically of the estrangement inherent in both science fiction and the Afrodiasporic condition and its discontents. Darko Suvin in his chapter “Estrangement and Cognition” describes a facet of SF he calls estrangement and that allows society to critically examine itself from outside perspectives. Black science fiction writers utilize the genre to revise a historical tradition that has silenced them.
Kadwo Eshun claims that Afrodiasporic persons experience firsthand the estrangement that forms a framework the science fiction genre: “Afrodiasporic subjects live the estrangement that science-fiction writers envision” (298). Since the underpinning estrangement of the SF genre is a reality for Afrodiasporic persons, it can offer a natural outlet for expressing their feelings. As Eshun continues: “Most science fiction tales dramatically deal with how the individual is going to contend with these alienating, dislocating societies and circumstances and that pretty much sums up the mass experiences of black people in the postslavery twentieth century” (298). The mass transplantation of African peoples to colonial nations still haunts contemporary society. Sci-fi is a fitting medium for exploring the African Diaspora.
Darko Suvin in his chapter “Estrangement and Cognition” further suggests how science fiction in the twentieth century can provide new horizons for the marginalized Afrodiasporic voice: “In the twentieth century SF has moved into the sphere of anthropological and cosmopological thought, becoming a diagnosis, a warning, a call to understanding and action, and—most important—a mapping of possible alternatives” (30-31). In inventing possible alternatives to the status quo, science fiction challenges the colonial historical record. In her science fiction short story “Deep End” Nisi Shawl explores notions of white imprisonment for a black protagonist Wayna. Wayna is uploaded into someone elses white body and is sent on a long voyage to work on a distant star. The story reads very much like a futuristic transplantation of the slave narrative of colonial America. In one scene, Wayna looks in the mirror and examines her pointed nose and grey-colored skin, noting her white features. She expresses her frustration with her new body as it causes her pain and exhibits some defect that escaped the cloners.
Kadwo Eshun describes how science fiction offers possibilities of a new frontier for black history: “To establish the historical character of black culture, to bring Africa and its subjects into history denied by Hegel et al., it has been necessary to assemble countermemories that contest the colonial archive, thereby situating the collective trauma of slavery as the founding moment of modernity” (288). Nisi Shawl’s story successfully estranges the slave narrative by transforming it into a fictional setting. This estrangement phenomenon does two things: establishes Shawl’s Afrodiasporic voice into the historical dialogue, and allows us to examine the diaspora from an unfamiliar perspective.
Discussion question:
Does Nisi Shawl’s story “Deep End” successfully deal with “How the individual is going to contend with alienating, dislocating societies and circumstances and that pretty much sums up the mass experiences of black people in the post-slavery twentieth century” (Eshun 298)?
Kadwo Eshun claims that Afrodiasporic persons experience firsthand the estrangement that forms a framework the science fiction genre: “Afrodiasporic subjects live the estrangement that science-fiction writers envision” (298). Since the underpinning estrangement of the SF genre is a reality for Afrodiasporic persons, it can offer a natural outlet for expressing their feelings. As Eshun continues: “Most science fiction tales dramatically deal with how the individual is going to contend with these alienating, dislocating societies and circumstances and that pretty much sums up the mass experiences of black people in the postslavery twentieth century” (298). The mass transplantation of African peoples to colonial nations still haunts contemporary society. Sci-fi is a fitting medium for exploring the African Diaspora.
Darko Suvin in his chapter “Estrangement and Cognition” further suggests how science fiction in the twentieth century can provide new horizons for the marginalized Afrodiasporic voice: “In the twentieth century SF has moved into the sphere of anthropological and cosmopological thought, becoming a diagnosis, a warning, a call to understanding and action, and—most important—a mapping of possible alternatives” (30-31). In inventing possible alternatives to the status quo, science fiction challenges the colonial historical record. In her science fiction short story “Deep End” Nisi Shawl explores notions of white imprisonment for a black protagonist Wayna. Wayna is uploaded into someone elses white body and is sent on a long voyage to work on a distant star. The story reads very much like a futuristic transplantation of the slave narrative of colonial America. In one scene, Wayna looks in the mirror and examines her pointed nose and grey-colored skin, noting her white features. She expresses her frustration with her new body as it causes her pain and exhibits some defect that escaped the cloners.
Kadwo Eshun describes how science fiction offers possibilities of a new frontier for black history: “To establish the historical character of black culture, to bring Africa and its subjects into history denied by Hegel et al., it has been necessary to assemble countermemories that contest the colonial archive, thereby situating the collective trauma of slavery as the founding moment of modernity” (288). Nisi Shawl’s story successfully estranges the slave narrative by transforming it into a fictional setting. This estrangement phenomenon does two things: establishes Shawl’s Afrodiasporic voice into the historical dialogue, and allows us to examine the diaspora from an unfamiliar perspective.
Discussion question:
Does Nisi Shawl’s story “Deep End” successfully deal with “How the individual is going to contend with alienating, dislocating societies and circumstances and that pretty much sums up the mass experiences of black people in the post-slavery twentieth century” (Eshun 298)?
