Speculative Pasts and Afro-Futures: Nalo Hopkinson's Trans-American Imaginary

Abstract

This article situates Nalo Hopkinson's speculative fiction in relation to Afrofuturism and to a corpus of fiction by writers like Colson Whitehead, Junot Díaz, and Kiese Laymon that incorporate elements of science fiction and fantasy in works that otherwise employ realist conventions. Against the notion that the latter body of writing is better suited to exposing the gap between liberal ideals and pervasive structures of racism in the Americas, I argue that Hopkinson's genre fiction is equally adept at using form to effect a critique of ideological fantasy.