Life Is a Biological Risk
Contagion, Contamination, and Utopia in African Science Fiction
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 5814747 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Nedine Moonsamy (0000-0003-1052-5989, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2016 |
| Volume | 3 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 329-343 |
| Publication date | 2016-09-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The Cambridge Journal of Postcolonial Literary Inquiry (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2052-2614 • E-ISSN: 2052-2622 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/pli.2016.16 |
| OpenAlex | W2535461567 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 5 |
| References cited | 8 |
Given the centrality of utopia to the African literary and postcolonial imaginary, science fiction by African writers offers a unique opportunity to explore and critique the sociopolitical salience of imagined African futures. Through a close reading of three short stories in the AfroSF: Science Fiction by African Writers Vol I (2012) anthology, I illustrate how generic science fiction utopias prove to be much too sterile when applied to an African context and thus do not amount to a viable and sustainable future. Making use of tropes of contagion, there is a clear desire to demonstrate that the human impulse is, in many ways, contrary to the objectives of neat utopias and these stories subsequently seek to "contaminate" the notion of utopia itself. Overall, I suggest that this is indicative of a shifting postcolonial landscape that needs to more carefully weigh the price of its utopias
Aesthetics · Art · Art history · Centrality · Context (archaeology) · Dystopia · Futures contract · Literature · Perspective (graphical) · Political science · Psychoanalysis · Reading (process) · Salience (neuroscience · Sociology · The Imaginary · Utopia · Visual arts · History · Law · Psychology · Utopian, Dystopian, and Speculative Fiction
| Unique citing works | 5 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,5 |
| Citation span | 2016 - 2021 (6) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 5 |