2020-21 Academic Catalog

This course introduces the black speculative tradition from the nineteenth century to Black Panther (2018). We will situate our readings within the science fiction/fantasy genre to investigate the ways black authors construct narratives about technology and the future to advocate for racial, sexual, and gender equality. We will discuss dichotomies of human/alien life, blackness and technology, and purity and hybridity, in addition to cosmic narratives of gender and sexuality and interspecies tolerance. Course materials include works by Octavia Butler, Samuel R. Delaney, Ta-Nehisi Coates, and Janelle Monae.