6533b836fe1ef96bd12a1a1c
RESEARCH PRODUCT
Friday Black et Intruders : lecture croisée au prisme de l'afrofuturisme
Indiana Lodssubject
littérature sud-africaine[SHS.LITT] Humanities and Social Sciences/Literatureshort story collectionAfrican American literatureAfrofuturismereceuil de nouvellesAfrofuturism[SHS] Humanities and Social Sciencesspeculative fictionSouth African literaturefiction spéculativelittérature afro-américainedescription
This article contrasts “The Finkelstein 5” and “Zimmer Land”, from Nana Kwame Adjei Brenyah’s short story collection Friday Black (2018) with the “Untitled” series from Mohale Mashigo’s Intruders (2018), using Mark Dery’s definition of Afrofuturism as a reading grid and a starting point. While both collections draw on the codes of science fiction and dystopia to portray racialized characters in futuristic settings to examine their relation to technology and their place in fictional ‘future’ societies, they take on different approaches. The article concludes that Adjei-Brenyah’s writing, in Friday Black, leans towards what could be termed ‘Afropresentism’ based on François Hartog’s definition of presentism, as futuristic settings and fictional characters are used to draw the reader’s gaze to the recent (and less recent) oppression of African Americans. Neither the future nor technology can lead to emancipation: only the extratextual present can. Mohale Mashigo’s writing, on the other hand, can be read as a metafictional call for a specifically South African vision and an artistic rebirth, away from social and cultural oppressions.
| year | journal | country | edition | language |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022-01-01 |