Futuristic themes and science fiction in modern African literature

Abstract

This chapter attempts to locate futuristic themes and fantasy in modern African speculative fiction by and about Africans. The chapter references seminal works by D.O. Fagunwa, Cyprian Ekwensi and Elechi Amadi to provide a context through which African fiction might be investigated as possessing tropes and narrative forms of science fiction (SF) and fantasy in novels and short stories. It begins with a reference to John Mbiti's assertion that Africa's religious worldview is anchored on the existence of spirit beings and attempts to authenticate the influences of fables, magical realism, myths and supernatural forces in the speculative fiction by and about Africans. Focusing on the examples of SF tropes in modern African fiction, I analyze books by distinguished writers such as Elechi Amadi, Ben Okri, Ngugi wa Thiong'o, Zakes Mda, Kojo Laing, Buchi Emechetta, Nnedi Okorafor, Deji Bryce Olotukun, among others, to discuss how the works of these writers are infused with tropes, beliefs and supernatural forces as they address postcolonial conditions such as corruption, wars, military dictatorship, poverty and technological advances to show a collective destiny in the African continent's world-system. Works discussed include Ben Okri's The Famished Road , Ngugi wa Thiong'o's Wizard of the Crow, Elechi Amadi's The Concubine , Zakes Mda's Ways of Dying, Syl-Cheney Coker's The Last Harmattan of Alusine Dunbar, Buchi Emechatta's The Rape of Shavi and Kojo Laing's Woman of the Aeroplane. Other writers referenced for analyses of speculative narratives in African fiction include Nnedi Okorafor, Lauren Beukes, Tomi Adeyemi, Efe Okogu, Benjamin Kwakye and Deji Bryce Olotukun.