Futurism and the African Imagination

Literature and Other Arts
1. Auflage 2023
ISBN: 978-1-03-201569-9
Verlag: Taylor & Francis

Buch, Englisch, 262 Seiten, Format (B × H): 156 mm x 234 mm, Gewicht: 372 g

Reihe: Routledge Studies in African Philosophy

This book investigates how African authors and artists have explored themes of the future and technology within their works.

Afrofuturism was coined in the 1990s as a means of exploring the intersection of African diaspora culture with technology, science and science fiction. However, this book argues that literature and other arts within Africa have always reflected on themes of futurism, across diverse forms of speculative writing (including science fiction), images, spirituality, myth, magical realism, the supernatural, performance and other forms of oral resources. This book reflects on themes of African futurism across a range of literary and artistic works, also investigating how problems such as racism, sexism, social injustice and postcolonialism are reflected in these narratives. Chapters cover authors, artists, movements and performers such Wole Soyinka, Ben Okri, Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Elechi Amadi, Mazisi Kunene, Nnedi Okorafor, Lauren Beukes, Leslie Nneka Arimah and the New African Movement. The book also includes a range of original interviews with prominent authors and artists, including Tanure Ojaide, Lauren Beukes, Patricia Jabbeh Wesley, Benjamin Kwakye, Ntongela Masilela and Bruce Onobrakpeya.

Interdisciplinary in its approach, this book will be an important resource for researchers across the fields of African literature, philosophy, culture and politics.

Zielgruppe

Postgraduate and Undergraduate Advanced

Autoren/Hrsg.

Okoro, Dike

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Ethnologie | Volkskunde Volkskunde Historische & Regionale Volkskunde
• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Philosophie: Allgemeines, Methoden
• Interdisziplinäres Wissenschaften Wissenschaften Interdisziplinär Futurologie (Interdisziplinär)
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Soziale Gruppen/Soziale Themen Sozialprognosen

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Part I: Origins/Present Manifestations in Literature 1. Futuristic Themes and Science Fiction in Modern African Literature 2. Objects Want to Have a Purpose: Animate Materiality, Space, and Identity in African Women Science Fiction 3. A Narrative of Resistance in the Face of Stasis 4. Elechi Amadi: The Paradox of a Great Teacher who Objects to Teaching 5. The Poet as Philosopher 6. The Metaphor of Change in Wole Soyinka’s Death and the King’s Horseman 7. The Art of Writing and the Writer’s World: An Interview with Lauren Beukes 8. Futuristic Themes in Modern African Poetry Part II: Further Manifestations: Theories, Literature and Performance 9. Mazisi Kunene and the New African Movement 10. The Greatness of Mazisi Kunene and the Influence of Zulu Cosmology 11. Visual Dissidence and Postcolonial Tunisian Film 12. My Writing, My Influences! A Niger Delta Writer’s Reflection on Arts, Politics and Society 13. African Fiction and the Prison Experience: An Interview with Benjamin Kwakye 14. Afrobeat Poetry and the African Imagination 15. The Story of Akorshi Litong Mystical Dance: A Bette-Bendi Cultural Production 16. A Conversation between Patricia Jabbeh Wesley and Dike Okoro Part III: Inferences in Other Arts 17. A Conversation with Bruce Onobrakeya

Über Autor(innen)

Dike Okoro is Associate Professor of English and Chair of the Humanities Department at Harris Stowe State University, USA. He is the author of Lupenga Mphande; Ecocritical Poet/Political Activist (2021). Okoro is a Senior Research Fellow at Ken Saro-Wiwa Foundation.