Date of Award
2018
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Department
English
Committee Chair
Eric Smith
Committee Member
Angela Balla
Committee Member
Alanna Frost
Subject(s)
American fiction (African American authors), American speculative fiction, Science fiction, Utopias in literature, N. K. Jemisin--Criticism and interpretation, Nisi Shawl--Criticism and interpretation, Nnedi Okorafor--Criticism and interpretation, N K Jemisin--Fifth season, Nisi Shawl--Everfair, Nnedi Okorafor--Binti
Abstract
This project explores a variety of utopian constructions via the work of N. K. Jemisin, Nisi Shawl, and Nnedi Okorafor in order to demonstrate that Afrofuturism’s hopeful optimism is a lesson for present and future realities. Each vision of utopia performs a necessary critique and evaluation of time in relation to historical constructivism that is insightful for all readers who must understand, in full, the myriad ways that Afro-centered narratives have enhanced the genres of Speculative and Science Fiction. In earnest, Afrofuturism offers to the world an attempt to think globally through excavations of the past, and, therefore, joins other prevalent forms of literature to imagine a step further than the present moment.
Recommended Citation
Moore, Jasmine A., "Sankofa : framing afrofuturistic dialectical utopias in N.K. Jemisin's The fifth season, Nisi Shawl's Everfair, and Nnedi Okorafor's Binti" (2018). Theses. 254.
https://louis.uah.edu/uah-theses/254