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Coffee & proofreading! Copyedits for #TheDarkFantastic are due in 48 hours.
Press suggested "Race and the Imagination from Harry Potter to the Hunger Games" as a subtitle. Why not "from Harry Potter to Black Panther?"
Because I'm writing another book about the Black fantastic.
Press suggested "Race and the Imagination from Harry Potter to the Hunger Games" as a subtitle. Why not "from Harry Potter to Black Panther?"
Because I'm writing another book about the Black fantastic.
One of the things my mentors told me is that it's one thing to write a lot of books. Quite another to write a book people wanna read.
The final version of #TheDarkFantastic was approved back in March. I'm not a supergenius like some of you -- my writing & thinking takes time.
The final version of #TheDarkFantastic was approved back in March. I'm not a supergenius like some of you -- my writing & thinking takes time.
I wanted Black Panther to land, have its impact, and read its aftermath & re-evaluation. I wanted to read what my colleagues in comics studies had to say about it.
I also wanted to watch the Year of YA Black Girl Fantasy, to see how audiences & critics reacted.
I also wanted to watch the Year of YA Black Girl Fantasy, to see how audiences & critics reacted.
I'm not sure if Octavia Butler was Black American or if her folks were from the Caribbean, but KINDRED is sort of Shakespeare for anyone wanting to build a Black North American fantastic world. She dealt with the problem of slavery way back in the 70s.
Plenty of challenges for building a North American Black fantastic:
1) Slavery, of course. How can you build SFF while incorporating that?
2) Also, it's not North America after all. This place is Turtle Island & belongs to 100s of Native nations -- have to take that into account.
1) Slavery, of course. How can you build SFF while incorporating that?
2) Also, it's not North America after all. This place is Turtle Island & belongs to 100s of Native nations -- have to take that into account.
3) What do you do about language? Naming people and places? Naming magical phenomena? Sounds cooler when it's not just plain old English.
4) What about religion? Many (not all) Black US folk are Christian & Muslim, and much of our history & folklore -- & myth -- involves faith.
4) What about religion? Many (not all) Black US folk are Christian & Muslim, and much of our history & folklore -- & myth -- involves faith.
This was a follow-worthy Tweet. (Lots of thoughts about this.)
Honestly, this is why I spent time in #TheDarkFantastic examining the construction of race in the Western speculative imagination, and left Afrofuturism -- which I do value as a Black American, and a Diasporan -- alone.
There's been a lot of heat for (a few) African immigrants to the US for critiquing Black Panther, but I think that it's important for us to read what continental Africans have to say about it.
(And we have to listen to their refusal to be labeled with our constructs, too.)
(And we have to listen to their refusal to be labeled with our constructs, too.)
There were layers to what happened last week, though. I've supported the person who sparked it, bought her book, and just skimmed her response post over lunch. And... when I went to her talk, she definitely emphasized her home & community culture as a factor in her success.
Beyond a particular digital celebrity's ego, I think that these conversations deserves more nuance. Goes deeper than folk "wanting it both ways" -- they are both in a sense. Folks are from one culture; they're steeped in another. That's hard.
My upbringing wasn't bicultural. With the exception of 1-2 lines, I have zero known non-Black American ancestry post-1865.
But I did grow up bi-regional, lol, if that's a thing. Southern father & grandmother, Northern mother & grandfather. Helps me imagine the immigrant dilemma.
But I did grow up bi-regional, lol, if that's a thing. Southern father & grandmother, Northern mother & grandfather. Helps me imagine the immigrant dilemma.
BTW, I don't think the villains win in the end. Nothing last forever. Certainly White power & Western domination will have a shorter shelf life than ancient Rome, let alone the storied ancient cultures that lasted thousands or even tens of thousands (see: Australia) of years.
Some of us are just wondering how much of humanity Western civ takes out during its decline and fall. One would hope for a bloodless changing of the guard, but every cell of our body, and every bit of DNA within some of us, doesn't leave us hopeful.
In my worst moments, I am sure that's what Mars colonization is all about: not Roddenberry's naively optimistic Star Trek vision, but a colony of last resort for the ultrarich if they destroy Earth's biosphere.
In fact, they're quite open about it. But I doubt they'll win.
In fact, they're quite open about it. But I doubt they'll win.
