The Black Feminist Fantastic: Afrofuturism, Afro-Gothicism, and Afro-Speculative Fiction
AFAM 255
Spring 2026
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01
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This course looks at the specifically feminist literature of the Black cultural tradition that, variously, has been called Afrofuturism, Afro-Gothicism, and Afro-Speculative Fiction. This tradition combines science-fiction, history, fantasy, and horror in order emphasize processes of racialization, legacies of colonialism, theories of science and technology, and the general makings of the modern world. In helping to make this world, central Enlightenment thinkers (e.g., Burke and Kant) posited that the figure of the Black female induced a sublime terror that justified aesthetic and scientific racial hierarchies. In this class, we will examine how Black feminist fantastic literature does not simply rebuke this modern world order; it imagines a world otherwise. We will read Black female authors to study how their aesthetics accrued a Black feminist politics. We will trace the relationships of power that inhere in this tradition's tropes and formal conventions, and we will explore how authorial manipulations of such tropes and conventions seek to dismantle gendered and racialized power structures. While our course will predominantly focus on literature, we will also develop our understanding of this tradition's aesthetics through music, Black feminist theory, and visual art. Texts will include Pauline Hopkins's Of One Blood, Octavia Butler's Kindred, Toni Morrison's Beloved, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Purple Hibiscus, and Tracy K. Smith's Life on Mars. We will interpret and build on Janelle Monae's Dirty Computer, Erykah Badu's Baduzim, Jennifer Nash's assertion of Black feminist theory's "visionary world-making abilities," Hortense Spiller's grammars of "ungendering," Jackie Ormes's comics, and Wangechi Mutu's mixed-media collage and film. |
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| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
SBS AFAM |
| Course Format: Lecture / Discussion | Grading Mode: Graded |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
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Fulfills a Requirement for: (African American Studies Minor)(African American Studies) |
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Past Enrollment Probability: 90% or above |
| SECTION 01 |
Major Readings: Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore
: Pauline Hopkins OF ONE BLOOD, Octavia Butler¿s KINDRED, Toni Morrison¿s BELOVED, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie¿s PURPLE HIBISCUS, and Tracy K. Smith¿s LIFE ON MARS; other texts available on Moodle
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Examinations and Assignments:
: 8 blog posts; critical analysis paper; final project |
Additional Requirements and/or Comments:
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| Instructor(s): Modi,Jessica Marion Times: .M.W... 10:50AM-12:10PM; Location: CAAS LOUNG; |
| Total Enrollment Limit: 19 | | SR major: 3 | JR major: 4 | | |
| Seats Available: 5 | GRAD: X | SR non-major: 3 | JR non-major: 3 | SO: 3 | FR: 3 |
| Drop/Add Enrollment Requests | | | | | |
| Total Submitted Requests: 0 | 1st Ranked: 0 | 2nd Ranked: 0 | 3rd Ranked: 0 | 4th Ranked: 0 | Unranked: 0 |
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