Black Science Fiction as a Vehicle for Healing
How I Stumbled onto Black Science Fiction
Prior to graduate school, fantasy of any kind was never a part of my reading interests. For most of my life, I’d always loved historical fiction. Mostly because I loved history, and they provided this creative insight into what my favorite black women in history could’ve been like. But I think the stress of graduate school started to make fantasy more appealing. As a result, over the last six years I’ve discovered the healing power of black science fiction and magical realism.
It began on a car ride from Virginia to Chicago. I was on fellowship at the University of Virginia and my god-sister and I took a road trip back to Chicago for a religious ceremony at our Ile. Since we were going to be crossing multiple state-lines, my god-sister rented a audiobook entitled Who Fears Death by Nalo Hopkinson. Not only was this my first time engaging with science fiction, but it was also my first time listening to a audiobook. Needless to say I was skeptical about how it was going to go. But after an hour of listening we were both hooked. Since neither of us could wait for the car ride back, I bought my own copy of the audio book as soon as I got to Chicago. By the time I left, only a couple of days later, I’d started listening to every Okorafor audiobook I could find. Suddenly I was tossed into this post-apocalyptic, sci-fi African world, featuring a young black woman as its heroine. It felt tremendous to witness her vulnerability, courage, and fragility. I was surprised at the healing I found in witnessing a young black woman, just like myself, saving the world.
Fantasy, Ritual, and Adventure
Once I finished reading every adult and young-adult novel written be Nnedi Okorafor, I began to discover other authors. Nalo Hopkinson a Jamaican-Canadian author whose work features magic, the Orisha, and fantasy intermixed with folk-tales. Then, call me late to the party, but I finally discovered Octavia Butler. I began with her Patternist books. A series of four novels that chronicle the evolution of two black immortals over three centuries. The intensity of her fantasy-worlds intermixed with the ferocity of her politics, reads as both magic and prophecy. From Butler, I discovered N.K. Jemisin, whose work I devoured so quickly that I even surprised myself.
As I continue to read the work of as many black femme fantasy authors as possible, I became increasingly aware of the healing power their work has had in my life. What I’ve learned is that the worlds they build help me to imagine possibilities in my life that I never could’ve considered otherwise. When I was growing up in socially-conservative Detroit, blackness was construed as this incredibly narrow thing. But black fantasy writing imagines black people who save the world, climb mountains, fly on magic carpets, and build cities. The Orisha are not simply dieties that can only be accessed via elevated priesthood, they are forces that can be touched and felt in everyday life. Rootwork isn’t something that is hidden away in the back of your aunties closet. It’s a superpower that can literally move the ocean.
Imaginary Worlds as a Bridge to Healing
All in all, black fantasy became a vehicle for my healing via the forces it has harnessed in my own imagination. It continues to a be a body of work that lights my spirit on fire in the most meaningful of ways.
Interested in discovering black fantasy authors for yourself? Check out this list of some of my favorite books below.
Black Science Fiction
Black Magical Realism
peace.
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Alex Moffett-Bateau / Prof MB (she/they) holds a PhD in political science from the University of Chicago and BA in political science + African American Studies from the University of Michigan. She is an assistant professor of political science at the City University of New York. Their research and writing focus on extra-systemic and subversive politics. Her manuscript in progress argues, in order to accurately understand the political engagement of Black women living in poverty, a fundamental expansion and redefinition of what is considered, “political” is needed. Prof MB is a public speaker, consultant, and podcaster. She is a political knowledge worker whose focus is on Black feminist + disability justice political education. Prof MB is originally from Detroit and now makes her home in New York City.
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