Afrofuturist Science Fiction

Between Ancestry, Marginality, Science and Belonging

Abstract

The problem-situation addressed in this article stems from the recognition of the increase in literary and audiovisual works that make use of Afrofuturist aesthetics. Our hypothesis focuses on the understanding that Afrofuturism allows addressing social, political and economic issues; therefore, themes such as African culture, history and diaspora, as well as resistance and identity, are highlighted. Having demarcated these points, we point out that the objectives of the argumentation presented consist of (1) describing the aesthetic characteristics of this phenomenon to understand the aspects that compose it; (2) address the science fiction literary genre; (3) to take up aspects of traditional African and historical cultures. The reflections of Ytasha L. Womack in Afrofuturism: The World of Black Sci-Fi and Fantasy Culture and Mark Dery in the essay “Black to the Future”, as well as Adam Roberts in The True History of Science Fiction, lay the theoretical ground. We adopted as a method the bibliographic, qualitative and descriptive research, thus offering (1) a descriptive approach to the phenomenon, (2) deepening the perceptions and meanings present in the selected corpus, thus offering (3) interpretation and reflexive analysis; and (4) contextualization.