“The Ones Who Stay and Fight”: N. K. Jemisin's Afrofuturist Variations on a Theme by Ursula K. Le Guin

Abstract

Abstract This article discusses N. K. Jemisin's Afrofuturist utopian short story entitled “The Ones Who Stay and Fight,” the opening story of her 2018 collection, How Long 'Til Black Future Month? As is suggested by its title, Jemisin's story is a direct reply to Ursula K. Le Guin's “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas,” and this article discusses the ways in which Jemisin, one of the most prominent members of a new generation of SF/Fantasy writers, pays homage to, replies to, and reimagines Le Guin's 1973 story in the twenty-first century. In particular, drawing on utopian scholarship, scholars of Afrofuturism, and the work of African American studies scholar-activists, it argues that Jemisin's utopia builds a world that embodies the “revolution of value” as well as the intersectional Black feminist praxis at the foundation of contemporary activist groups such as Black Lives Matter. It also argues for the ways in which Jemisin's text confronts common criticisms of utopia as well as the limits of the utopian imagination.