UNIVERSITY OF GHANA COLLEGE OF HUMANITIES INSTITUTE OF AFRICAN STUDIES AFROFUTURISM: THE CHANGING NARRATIVE AND THE AFRICAN YOUTH BY AARON NII AYITEY KOMEY (10459170) THIS THESIS IS SUBMITTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF GHANA, LEGON IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENT FOR THE AWARD OF M. PHIL. IN AFRICAN STUDIES DEGREE University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh UNIVERSITY OF GHANA COLLEGE OF HUMANITIES INSTITUTE OF AFRICAN STUDIES AFROFUTURISM: THE CHANGING NARRATIVE AND THE AFRICAN YOUTH BY AARON NII AYITEY KOMEY (10459170) THIS THESIS IS SUBMITTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF GHANA, LEGON IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENT FOR THE AWARD OF M. PHIL. IN AFRICAN STUDIES DEGREE OCTOBER 2020 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh I University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh II ABSTRACT The premiere of Black Panther in 2018 by Marvel Studios threw more light on a genre of literature and popular art that was fast gaining popularity on the African continent. The booming success of the film drew the attention of many, especially young people in Africa and in the diaspora, to the new genre, albeit subtly. This genre’s goal is to rewrite the history of black people, which is often told in a myopic western lens, as well as put a black face in the future, through the use of fantasy, speculative art and science fiction. This is an eclectic study touching on literature, history, political studies, sociology and popular culture. It looks at the role played by the speculative imagination in the cultural emancipation narrative of the continent. The study also investigates the potential of this genre in aiding to achieve Pan Africanism. This study is an exploratory research that uses the qualitative research tools; interviews and content analysis to collect and analyse information. Young people from across the African continent and in the African American diaspora were interviewed to examine their response to the impact of Afrofuturism in African popular culture and how it influences identity and Pan African solidarity The study revealed that some of the objectives that the genre seeks to achieve are being met, and even being exceeded. However, there are serious concerns about the danger of promulgating an interrupted and skewed history of black people by producers and content creators especially in the diaspora. Thus, artists and others in Africa hold a different view about how the genre should develop on the continent in the future. The study concludes with recommendations on how the genre can be moved promoted to increase its impact in achieving its objectives. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh III DEDICATION I dedicate this work to Afrikan youth on the continent and young black people in the diaspora who are tirelessly working, studying, protesting, challenging and organising against oppressive systems to make sure that the Afrikan and the black person has dignity, respect and economic independence in our lifetime. I also dedicate this work to all my teachers, mentors, colleagues and friends who have shaped my thoughts, ideologies, tenets and beliefs throughout my academic life so far. And to my father who has supported me throughout life, exposing me to books and other sources of information that have helped me build and develop strong, independent ideologies. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh IV ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I will like to express my utmost gratitude to my supervisors, Prof. Esi Sutherland-Addy and Dr. David Ako Odoi, for the guidance, support and supervision that they have given throughout the period and towards the completion of this work. And especially to Prof. Esi Sutherland-Addy, for the immense time and effort invested in making sure this work is of the standard befitting the degree being sort for. I am also grateful to the Research Fellows, my colleagues and friends at the Institute of African Studies who have helped me in various ways to finish my program. I am very grateful. A special mention to my friend and mentor Kafui Otis Tsekpo for the special interest you have taken to see the progress of my academic life. I will like to also say a big thank you to my father, Mr. Alfred Nii Ayi Komey, the financier of my ambitions. Your sacrifices have made it possible for me to do this. Finally, shidaa aha Ataa Naa Nyonmo. Lɛ emawje mi, ni ɛkɛ mi yɛ daa, ni edromo fa ha mi. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh V TABLE OF CONTENT DECLARATION.......................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined. ABSTRACT........................................................................................................................ II DEDICATION.................................................................................................................. III ACKNOWLEDGEMENT................................................................................................IV TABLE OF CONTENT..................................................................................................... V LIST OF IMAGES..........................................................................................................VII CHAPTER ONE - INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND...................................... 1 1.1 INTRODUCTION................................................................................................... 1 1.2 BACKGROUND..................................................................................................... 2 1.3 PROBLEM STATEMENT....................................................................................10 1.4 OBJECTIVES........................................................................................................ 11 1.5 RESEARCH QUESTIONS ................................................................................... 12 1.6 METHODOLOGY................................................................................................ 12 1.7.1 ETHICAL CONSIDERATION .......................................................................... 16 1.7.2 LIMITATIONS TO THE STUDY..................................................................... 16 1.8 SIGNIFICANCE OF STUDY............................................................................... 17 1.9 ORGANIZATION OF THE STUDY....................................................................18 CHAPTER 2 - LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK..20 2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW...................................................................................... 20 2.1 PERSPECTIVES................................................................................................... 20 2.2 DEFINITIONS .......................................................................................................27 2.3 AFROFUTURISM AND IDENTITY ................................................................... 29 2.4 AFROFUTURISM AND BLACK LIVES MATTER...........................................31 2.5 AFROFUTURISM VERSUS AFRICANFUTURISM..........................................33 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh VI 2.6 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK......................................................................... 37 CHAPTER 3 - FINDINGS............................................................................................... 45 3.0 INTRODUCTION................................................................................................. 45 3.1 BIOGRAPHY OF OCTAVIA BUTLER ...............................................................45 3.3 COMMON THEMES THAT RUN THROUGH THE WORKS.......................... 51 CHAPTER 4 DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS .............................................................. 66 4.0 INTRODUCTION................................................................................................. 66 4.1 CHANGING NARRATIVES ................................................................................66 4.2 INTERRUPTED IDENTITY.................................................................................82 4.3 OTHER NARRATIVES AND THE FUTURE.....................................................85 CHAPTER 5 – CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS..................................93 5.0 INTRODUCTION................................................................................................. 93 5.1 AFROFUTURISM; THE CHANGING NARRATIVE ........................................ 93 5.2 INTERRUPTED IDENTITY.................................................................................96 5.3 CONCLUSION......................................................................................................98 5.4 RECOMMENDATIONS.......................................................................................98 BIBLIOGRAPHY........................................................................................................... 101 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh VII LIST OF IMAGES Image 1 Black Panther stars Chadwick Boseman, Danai Gurira, Lupita Nyong'o, and Michael B. Jordan do the ‘wakanda forever’ pose on stage together at the 2019 Golden Globe Awards ..........................................................................................72 Image 2 Jesse Lingard and Paul Pogba do the 'Wakanda Forever' pose .....................73 Image 3 Victor Oladipo and Chadwick Boseman do the 'Wakanda Forever' Pose at a basketball game ....................................................................................................74 Image 4 Gavyn Batiste, 7, dressed as Black Panther and surrounded by action figures in Lafayette, La .................................................................................................... 75 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 1 CHAPTER ONE - INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND 1.1 INTRODUCTION The Yoruba people of Nigeria have a saying, “pelu irugbin kekere ti oju inu o le dagba aaye kan ti o kun fun ireti” which translated means, “with a little seed of imagination you can grow a space full of hope.” This is a saying that captures the fundamental importance of the power of imagination. Until recently, the power of imagining the future, projecting it on popular media along with its accompanying superheroes has been the dominated by the west and western media, projecting western ideas of a future which is centered around western identities. The premiere of Black Panther in 2018 by Marvel Studios made a significant change to this situation and creative works on black and African futurism has since become a genre of popular art that is fast gaining popularity on the African continent. The booming success of the film came along with a popular culture, and drew the attention of many, especially young people in Africa, to the new genre, albeit subtly. This new genre is referred to as Afrofuturism. In this work, I seek to explore how artists- that is writers, filmmakers, visualizers - are using the tool of artistic expression and creativity, under the umbrella of Afrofuturism and Africanfuturism to rewrite the narrative about Africans, and Blacks, and to create a new notion and positivist desire about how Blacks are redefining the narrative by placing black identities in the future. Is Afrofuturism a reflection of the African view of the future? Does Afrofuturism resonate with the African youth? The work explores Afrofuturism as “a kind of sociology of the future”, one whose major attribute is not necessarily in its literary function, but in its “value as a mind stretching force for the creation of the habit of anticipation” and using literature’s potential for envisioning new worlds to insert University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 2 themselves into scientific discourses from which they would otherwise be excluded (Eatough, 2017). 1.2 BACKGROUND The idea of Afrofuturism as a coined concept can be said to have started from the 1960s when writers tried to produce works that bring Africa to where we currently are and how we think about Africa in a future and futuristic kind of way (CBC Arts, 2018) Afrofuturism scholars often credit jazz musicians such as Sun Ra, who portrayed himself as an alien from a different world, for the origins of the genre among African Americans in the diaspora in the late 1950s (Yaszek, 2005). This has been challenged, with certain anthropological data showing the existence of science fiction and the construction of Africa’s utopian or dystopian futures and the rethinking of Africa’s past among certain African ethnic groups such as the Shona and the Swahili speaking people (Rettová, 2017). However, novels such as the early Hausa sci-fi novel titled Tauraruwa Mai Wutsiya [The Comet] by Umaru Dembo in 1969 have been said to not be Afrofuturistic because, like in this case, “the sci-fi elements are reinterpreted as a mere ‘replacement’ of more traditional themes and motifs and the novel’s potential to be ‘a new departure’ is neutralized” (Furniss, 1996 cited in Rettova, 2017). The science fiction world as well as fantasy literature, a genre of literature which refers to fiction with a large amount of imagination, that is unrestricted by reality, has been dominated by European and North American creatives, including writers and filmmakers. In the field of creative art – written literature, visual art, films and music – the face of the University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 3 black person in the future or in speculative fiction has been hard to come by, and the voice of the African or black diaspora has not been loud enough. In written literature for instance, the field has been dominated by post-colonial writers who have written extensively about the ills of the era. Since the breakthrough for African literature in the 1950s, the writings of postcolonial African authors have focused largely on the oppression and discrimination suffered under colonial rule, the demonization of African values, culture and religion, and the independence struggle. Other writers that have followed this era also have written largely on romanticising the African continent. African literature has also focused extensively on the post-independence socio-political struggles of most countries and the exploitation and abuse of power by the early nationalist leaders. In all of these periods, there has been little focus and attention on futuristic literature. There are some reasons, although not so convincing, as to why this is the case, such as, the lack of investment from international publishing houses into this form of literature, as compared to the norm of writings about the past that is filled with oppression and discrimination. Also, there are the stereotypical views, including the doomsday narratives like the popular western promulgation that Africans have no technology and are a backward people who cannot invent their own products to solve their peculiar challenges, as seen in Polish-British author Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, where he defines Africa in various derogatory terms, especially as “primitive” (Conrad, 1950). This view comes from a stereotypical, yet repeated narrative that Africans are viewed as still busy looking for their place in history and unable to plan for a future and only take what is given to them by the west. Such a diagnosis was, for example, articulated by former French President Nicholas Sarkozy when he claimed in a 2007 speech given in University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 4 Dakar, that, “Africa’s tragedy emerges from the fact that the African man has not yet found his way into history […] Africa’s problem is that it lives too much in the present, in the nostalgia of a lost Edenic childhood […] in this imaginary where everything always starts over, there is no place for human adventure or the idea of progress” (Nyawalo, 2016). Also, this stereotypical narrative is premised on the historical basis that the perceptions Europeans have about Africa are in European notions, and thus the misconception that one cannot fathom what the thinking of an African is (Legum, 1962). This history has not been a fair representation of previous lifestyles and has for a long time presented Africans and African Americans in a discriminatory way, ignorant of the reality of the social nature of Africans and how they lived. The field of literature and creative arts is not excluded from this bias and skewed stereotypical narrations. This stereotype is premised on the view that African history begins from slavery, turning a blind eye to the decades and centuries of many great civilizations on the continent, such as the civilization of the Kemets, the Songhai Empire, the Great Zimbabwe etc. In the new world where Blacks found themselves, the situations they faced meant that they were compelled to become innovative, succumbing and adapting ways to be able to cope and rebuild what was left of their former lives and traditions (Brooks, 2018, p. 101) especially those who were taken to the Americans and those who were directly victims of slavery, exploitation and colonialism. By the 20th century when science fiction had evolved into its own distinct genre, having noticeable authors and publishers, African American writers were still not publishing science fiction. It was not until after the World War II, when science and technology had witnessed new inventions from the introduction of things like the atomic bombs that University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 5 writers started to see the radical future differently, as it was viewed as an increasingly popular and respectable way to “make sense of these changes” (Yaszek, 2006). Indeed, Octavia Butler asserts this view, and once stated in a February 1996 interview that, “the space program of the sixties really was part of the general hopefulness of the decade, part of our sense that anything was possible if we strove together as a people” (Potts & Butler, 1996). Eventually, Afrofuturist storytelling became a regular aspect of, first, popular music in the 1970s and 1980s and then in the works of authors such as Octavia Butler. Furthermore, in the 1990s, a new term was coined and made popular by musician Mark Dery in a collection of interviews such as Black To The Future, Interviews with Samuel R. Delany (Dery, 1993). This term is known as Afrofuturism. This new term was meant to use science fiction and cyberculture in a speculative manner, to escape the discriminatory definition of what it means to be Black (or exotically African), especially in western culture (Bristow, 2012). Afrofuturism is an evolving field of black cultural studies whose theories and scholarship are heavily influenced with particularities in science fiction, speculative fiction, new media, digital technology, the arts, and Black aesthetics all situated and focused on the continent of Africa, the Diaspora, and its imaginaries (Dean & Andrews, 2016, p. 2). Afrofuturist writers started writing science fiction in the 19th century in a diverse range of fantastic and proto-science fictional forms. No matter the forms they worked in, the earlier generations of Afrofuturists were bound primarily by the primary goal of showcasing the changing relations of science and society, especially with relation to African America history (Yaszek, 2006). University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 6 Afrofuturism seeks to reclaim black identity through art, culture and political resistance. Eshun (2003) reiterates Toni Morrison’s point that, “the African subjects that experienced capture, theft, abduction, mutilation, and slavery were the first moderns. They underwent real conditions of existential homelessness, alienation, dislocation, and dehumanization that philosophers like Nietzsche would later define as quintessentially modern” (Eshun, 2003). African Americans, thus, started to picture and talk about a future without the existence of all the acts that had characterized the period of slavery, colonisation and oppression. Afrofuturism could also be defined as theories and scholarship heavily influenced with particularities in science fiction, speculative fiction, new media, digital technology, the arts, and Black aesthetics all situated and focused on the continent of Africa, the Diaspora, and its imaginaries (Dean & Andrews, 2016, p. 2). Afrofuturism gives us a space for negotiation between the unresolved past and the impeding, potentially bright future. It is also the expression of multiple identities of blackness through popular media. In the words of renowned Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe, “Literature, whether handed down by word or in print, gives us a second handle on reality” (Achebe, 1988b). Afrofuturism, as such, appropriates the characteristics and attributes of science fiction to place a black representation in the future (Yaszek, 2005), thereby allowing the creative content creator the leeway and ability to give a second handle on the “realities of the future” (emphasis mine). Afrofuturism (and Africanfuturism) are not just about the ability to picture a different future. The authors have also tried to use the power of film, art, speculative fiction, fantasy and technology to quell and rewrite the narrative that has for a long time been University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 7 projected about them and the past. This is premised in the famous saying by British writer George Orwell in his famous novel Nineteen Eighty-Four that, “who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past”, because those who control the present will use their power to control the past in hopes of controlling and influencing the future. These changing relations in society pertaining to African history is also evident in the writings of some indigenous Afrofuturist writers. Ayivor (2003) opines of Ayi Kwei Armah, “that Armah’s Pan-Africanist visionary re-ordering of African history and ontology projects Africa’s history as the only key that could unlock the door to the continent’s pristine cultural values and civilizations – the magical searchlight that could help the global African community become conscious of Africa’s ancient great civilizations and regain its lost dignity and self-image” (Ayivor, 2003, p. 41). With the advent of global communication and information technologies in the 1970s and 1980s, Afrofuturist artists broadened the scope of their attention to encompass both outer space and cyberspace (Yaszek, 2005). This era also witnessed an outburst of Afrofuturist authors as science fiction became popular and was being woven into the aspect of everyday life, with the authors also increasingly allying themselves with the science fiction community (Yaszek, 2006). Some of the authors of this time include Octavio Butler and Samuel Delany. More recently, Afrofuturism has been projected in digital art and through film. Movies such as Ryan Coogler’s brilliant inception of Marvel Comics’ landmark black character Black Panther, Cameroonian Jean-Pierre Bekolo’s Les Saignantes and Kenyan Wanuri Kahiu’s Pumzi have advanced the propagation of Afrofuturism on the African continent. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 8 There is a strong effort by African writers, artists, musicians and filmmakers to change the stereotypical representation of Africa in fantasy and futuristic literature. This form of art achieves two main objectives; firstly, it rewrites the narrative about the perception of Africa. Indeed, as Chinua Achebe put it in his 1987 novel Anthills of the Savannah, “It is the story that outlives the sound of war-drums and the exploits of brave fighters. It is the story … that saves our progeny from blundering like blind beggars into the spikes of the cactus fence. The story is our escort; without it, we are blind. Does the blind man own his escort? No, neither do we the story; rather it is the story that owns and directs us” (Achebe, 1988a, p. 75). Adichie asserts to the point about the importance of a story rewriting the narrative in her text Danger of a Single Story, she said, “Stories matter. Many stories matter. Stories have been used to dispossess and to malign. But stories can also be used to empower, and to humanize. Stories can break the dignity of a people. But stories can also repair that broken dignity” (Adichie, 2009, Oct 7). In particular reference to telling the story of the future by Africans, Nyawalo (2016) writes, “Bekolo’s questions emphasize the level at which the social imaginary both shapes and is shaped by local and global structures of power. This emphasis is imbued with iconoclastic potential. Since the 1970s and 80s, Afrofuturism has continued to grow to and has become the toast of many African writers, such as American-Nigerian author Nnedi Okorafor. The field has also evolved in terms of its political mission, as was seen in the 2018 Marvel movie Black Panther. As Kodwo Eshun proposed, modern Afrofuturism can be represented under three closely related sources which will together make what he refers to as “futures industry” and which I will elaborate upon more in subsequent chapters. These sources are, the big science source, the big business source and the global media source (Eshun, cited in Yaszek, 2006). University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 9 Imagining African bodies in technologically enhanced futuristic landscapes reveals and questions the ways in which such spaces have typically connoted the assumed teleological progress and implicit superiority of white supremacy. In fact, just the ability to imagine the future of Africa through the eyes of its own people, home and abroad, about a people who are not a poor, war stricken and in dire need of help but an advanced, technologically advanced people, powered by their own natural and human resources and deeply rooted in its art, culture and progressive traditions is a reshaping of the norm about a constantly degraded people, who have been portrayed as a continent that is to be looted and exploited and not a major game player in the affairs of the world. Rettova (2017) argues that this perception is enforced by precolonial European explorers who had written about Africa, like Hegel, whose reading of Africa was very influential in Europe’s intellectual and political history, feeding directly into justifications of the colonial enterprise. Afrofuturism challenges the normalization of Black marginalisation within society itself (Rettová, 2017). Also, Afrofuturism is the reimagining of a future filled with arts, science and technology seen through black lens. In other words, it is the representation of the future of Africa, by Africans and through African literature, arts and media. It represents a re-imagining of the self beyond the limitations imposed by society in both Art and ‘real’ life in expressing themselves in ‘unexpected’ ways. Films, for instance, can function as “heterotopias” because they ‘create’ worlds that are other than the “real world” but that relate to that world in multiple and contradictory ways (Nyawalo, 2016). That is, through Afrofuturism, the African child, student, artist, film maker, author etc. can envision the future they want for themselves and the continent, what the superheroes would be like and the problems they will be solving, and can give a such mental picture to society. African youth can also have other stories of their history, rather than the narrow, cliché, unidirectional story of University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 10 an oppressed past, capturing the heroic stories of mythological heroes. In addition, though all the definitions of Afrofuturism vary, all of them stress the connection of the imagination of the future with the lives of black people in an active role (Rettová, 2017). Undoubtedly, the biggest promoter of Afrofuturism in recent times is the largely successful Marvel Comics’ 2018 film Black Panther. The movie made half a billion dollars worldwide within a few days after its release, and has been a widely and impressively received by black people, especially by black women and people in the diaspora (Yusuf, 2018, Feb 24b). The reception of the movie, and especially the cultural display and characterization of a black superhero is proof again of how starved and thirsty black people were for a character that looks like them and that is relatable to their culture. Thus, Black Panther is the refusal of the pejorated image of a lazy, malnourished, corrupt and retrogressive African, promulgated in the white world and subscribed to by many, including some people in the black world. 1.3 PROBLEM STATEMENT The independence of African countries from colonialism in the middle and late 20th century was expected to cause an emancipation of the continent, and project the African unto the world stage, with their cultural heritage and identities being revered similar to those of Europe and North America. This independence period was also expected to cause a unification of all black people, both in the diaspora and on the continent. This clarion call was championed by leaders from all over the continent and diaspora, including W.E.B. Du Bois, Marcus Garvey, Kwame Nkrumah, George Padmore, Juluis Kambarage Nyerere, Sekou Ahmed Toure among others. However, the political emancipation has not positively affected the cultural and economic transformation of University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 11 black people. Afrofuturism seeks to help correct this narrative. Thus, this work examines the efficacy of Afrofuturism as a cultural tool for black and African emancipation. Afrofuturism has been used as an identity tool to place a black image into the future. Again, it attempts to connect the African Diaspora by addressing common themes in a techno-culture and science fiction perspective, while embracing a multimedia range of artistic communities with shared interest in envisioning a Black past, current disposition and a future connected by common experiences (Tarik, 2018). It is also used as an aesthetic material to rewrite the narrative of the past and propose an alternative history. Also, it has been widely accepted by the youth in the diaspora, and has become a channel to begin a movement or sustain and empower existing racial the youth in Africa and the diaspora. 1.4 OBJECTIVES The overall objective is to look at what Afrofuturism is, and what the sub-themes in the genre are. The study seeks to find out at what various writers say about the genre, as well as how the ordinary African youth understand and relate with the genre, especially with respect to the pan African agenda of cultural identity, common heritage, values and ethics. This is an eclectic study touching on literature, history, political studies, sociology and popular culture. It looks at the role played by the speculative imagination in the cultural emancipation narrative of the continent. That is, the development of theories, the critique of white supremacy and the promotion of black superheroes in re-imagining the future of Africa. This study will explore the framework for characterising a piece of creative work as Afrofuturistic, Africanfuturistic etc. Furthermore, this study aims to: University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 12  examine how popular culture is influenced by Afrofuturism.  undertake in-depth study into the current discourses in the field of Afrofuturism.  understand how the historical predicaments of Africans and black people socially, politically, culturally and economically serve as a basis to re-imagine the black concept of building a utopian future.  interrogate out how the media could serve as a tool to change the existing stereotypical narratives against Blacks and help reinforce black culture and futuristic themes. 1.5 RESEARCH QUESTIONS The research questions below address the concerns of the study:  What are the themes and characteristics that qualify a novel, film or piece of art as Afrofuturistic? Thus, what makes a work Afrofuturistic/Africanfuturistic?  How do these themes demonstrate a changing narrative in popular art and literature?  How do African youth and the youth in the African diaspora relate to works of Afrofuturism and African futurism? 1.6 METHODOLOGY This research is an exploratory research, that is, the researcher seeks to research a phenomenon, to provide a better understanding, especially when little is known about it. It is not designed to come up with final answers or definite solutions, rather it seeks to gain a deeper understanding of emerging concepts. This study is exploratory in nature, University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 13 that is, it seeks to gain insight into and a deeper understanding of the growing and evolving concepts of Afrofuturism and Africanfuturism, their impact on the youth in Africa and their potential for helping achieve the goals of Pan Africanism. This research is a qualitative study based on interviews and content analysis. Primary data was gathered from interviews. Interviews were conducted via telephone and other online telecommunication platforms such as Zoom. Interviews were constructed in a semi-structured manner; this allowed the researcher to find out more far beyond the responses that are given to the prepared and standardized questions (BERG, 2001). Telephone interviews were also employed in this research because the sample population was in geographically diverse locations. Also, owing to the COVID-19 situation that was prevalent at the time of data collection, telephone interviews were the safest and most viable option. It is further based on content analysis of a text and analysis of audio-visual materials. “Context analysis is a research technique for making replicable and valid inference from texts to the context of their use.” Additionally, the researcher adopted the approach because it is flexible, and allows a researcher to look into new insights, explore the subject area further and increases his or her understanding of particular phenomena (Krippendorf, 1989). Content analysis was also done through the examination of social media data. Social media data refers to information that is gathered from a person’s social media activity (Segal, 2017), which includes posts, comments, shares, retweets, mentions etc. This data was mainly collected from the social media platform Twitter, even though data from Facebook was also studied. This helped the researcher to understand how people were engaging with a particular topic or issue. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 14 A research design refers to the plan for how a study will be conducted (Berg 2001). Purposive sampling was used in this study, which means that only targeted samples which have a specific trait or purpose related to the research was selected. The interviewees were sampled from four countries, Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya and the United States. These respondents were chosen to represent the population that is under study, that is, the African youth. For the purpose of the study, the political definition of Africa was employed, thus the youth in the African diaspora, which is located outside the boundaries of the continent were also considered as Africans (Edozie, 2012). The interviewees were selected as representatives from different parts of Africa. The interviewees were selected because the researcher wanted a Pan African response, that is, to sample views from different Africans across different places in Africa. The respondents from Ghana and Nigeria were to represent West Africa, while the respondent from Kenya was to represent East Africa in the study. The last respondent, a respondent from the United States, was chosen to represent the African diaspora in the study. The number of respondents in total was eight (8), and this enabled the researcher to have an in-depth discussion with the respondents for the essay. A convenient method of sampling, known as the snowballing sampling technique was also adopted for this study, to aid in the purposive sampling. Snowballing is sometimes the best way to locate subjects with certain attributes or characteristics that are vital for a particular study and involves first identifying people with relevant characteristics and having them answer a some questions, thereafter, these subjects are then asked for the details of other people who have the same characteristics as they do and can be of more significance to the study (Berg 2001). Before some of the respondents were interviewed, the researcher interviewed some respondents and spoke to a number of others on the continent on the issue. These initial respondents led the researcher to other respondents University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 15 who were eventually interviewed for the study. This method was adopted in order to get suitable respondents for the study, especially in relation to the respondents from outside the researcher’s home country of Ghana. In this case, the researcher draws data from a content analysis of Kindred by Octavia Butler, and an analysis of the movie Black Panther by Marvel Comics. For the content analysis, novels such as Ayi Kwei Armah’s Osiris Rising and Utopia Unbound, Nnedi Okorafor’s Binti and Namwali Serpell’s The Old Drift were considered for the study. However, the researcher settled on Octavia Butler’s novel because of the novel’s timeless relevance, her interests in the hybridity of the human race and her ability to envision an alternate future. With regards to the movie Black Panther, the researcher selected it among a list of other movies considered including works like Pumzi by Kenyan filmmaker Wanuri Kahiu, Sankofa by Ethiopian filmmaker Halie Gerima and Afronauts by Ghanaian filmmaker Frances Bodomo because of the worldwide popularity of the film and the relation that many people across the African space worldwide have with it. The film also formed a basis for the study, exposing the genre to many people, especially in Africa and giving the chance for other works in the genre to be developed around it. Therefore, the researcher found it wise to select this material in order to examine how a widely successful film can spur such an influence among popular culture. The study was limited to two (2) sources of data in order to do an in-depth study of the materials, explore more on the phenomena and better understand a genre that is still growing on the continent, and not come up with final answers about the area of study. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 16 1.7.1 ETHICAL CONSIDERATION Research ethics deals with how we treat those who participate in our studies and how we handle the data after we collect them (Vanderstoep, S. W., & Johnson, D. D., 2008, pg. 12). Among the most serious ethical concerns that have received attention during the past two decades is the assurance that subjects are voluntarily involved and informed of all potential risks (Berg, 2001, pg. 53). In this work, ethical obligation was taken seriously to ensure the rights, confidentiality and privacy of the people that form the focus of the study. The data collected is confidential, with records available to only the researcher and the supervisors of the researcher. no one else will be given access to the data. This is to protect the confidentiality of the study. The researcher did not also ask any questions that have to deal with the intimate privacy of the interviewees. Personal questions were limited to the basic demographics of the interviewees, that is, the name; age; level of education; nationality and profession of the respondents. The research was also on a voluntary basis and participants gave their informed consent. People who participate in a research study usually have the right to know that they are part of that study (Vanderstoep, S. W., & Johnson, D. D., 2008, pg. 14). Participants in the study were informed of the details of the research study and were informed of the opportunity that they have the right to withdraw from the study at any time. 1.7.2 LIMITATIONS TO THE STUDY Language barrier was a problem in trying to interview more participants for the study. The researcher could not interview people from North Africa especially because of the language barrier. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 17 The researcher would have wished to interview more people but there were some limitations the researcher faced that were beyond his control. In spite of these limitations, the researcher was able to conduct some interviews, but there was the capacity to do more. Some respondents opted out of the study after certain connectivity challenges while conducting the interview, so the researcher could not include the responses in the work. This affected the researcher’s interviews with some of the respondents. He had to cancel some scheduled interviews with people from Southern Africa, specifically respondents from Malawi because the internet connection was not good on either side. The respondent eventually opted out of the study. 1.8 SIGNIFICANCE OF STUDY The work seeks to examine how Afrofuturism has a tendency running through popular culture, recreating what people think about black identity, what it is and what it looks like through popular art, print and electronic media. This work examines whether the recent increase in black futuristic literature and films has in any way influenced lifestyle trends in the popular art. With works of popular culture bringing a visible change or addition to popular culture, in terms of dressing or language or mannerisms, it is worth investigating if the same effects have happened in relation to Afrofuturism. With the field continuously growing, this work will provide a foundation to help investigate in future how through Afrofuturism and Africanfuturism certain socio-cultural domains such as gender, religion, indigenous knowledge systems among others are perceived and projected in these works. This work also seeks to establish the importance of imaginative and speculative fiction as a genre that has significant advantages for the self-identity of black people, especially University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 18 children and young adults, who will have icons they can adore, and see a future of the place they find themselves. 1.9 ORGANIZATION OF THE STUDY The work is presented in five chapters. Chapter one gives an introduction to the topic and background of the study, states the problem statement, state the objectives of the study and explains the methodology used in the study. Chapter 2 of the work contains the literature review on Afrofuturism and other relevant discourses that are connected to the Afrofuturism. This section explores what scholars have written about in the area of study and probes what the major issues that influence the genre in contemporary times are, from the perspectives of different scholars, artists etc that are involved in the field of study. Also, the key terms in the field of study are defined. This section also includes the theoretical framework that I will use as a structure in analysing this study. In chapter 3, the researcher does a content analysis of the novel Kindred by Octavia Butler, as well as the content analysis of Marvel Film’s movie, Black Panther. This will be done by analysing the critical issues in the text that show the characteristics of Afrofuturism in both works. Chapter 4 entails the findings and discussion of the data analysed. This chapter will elaborate and expatiate on the research findings as well as discuss the findings from the data collected through the in-depth interviews. Chapter 5, will be the conclusion of the work, where I sum up the entire work and give a summary of the points and arguments from the work, draw conclusions and give some recommendations. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 19 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 20 CHAPTER 2 - LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK 2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW Writing about the future also has an effect on how the present and the past are crafted (Rettová, 2017), and the concept of Afrofuturism, a concept that seeks to critique the present status quo in order to imagine alternative futures (Nyawalo, 2016) is a long held concept which has been developed and presented differently from different contexts. In this chapter, I explore how the concept of Afrofuturism has been espoused in literature from writers in Africa and writers outside the African continent. As the concept of Afrofuturism has developed over the past few decades, what happenings in histories and which images or representations in the present status quo do they seek to change? What are the various imagined futures from different writers and various sections of society? This review will also help to find the lacuna in literature that makes this study necessary and important. The second part of the chapter also comprises a discussion on the theoretical approach for the study. 2.1 PERSPECTIVES The arrival of the Europeans on the shores of Africa in the 15th century and the accompanying happenings of slavery, colonization and oppression also caused the interruption of an evolving culture and subsequently the infiltration of various African cultures. Before then, Africans were a people with their own civilization and acculturation, as well as their own ambitions for the futures of their various nations. According to scholars such as Ayi Kwei Armah, Africa’s role in history must be emphasised, including its contribution to the world’s great civilizations, and the achievement of its people in the arts and sciences, to stress on what it has given to the University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 21 world, not what it has lost (Armah, 1995; Ayivor, 2003). However, this section takes a look at what it has lost which has resulted in the backward, discriminatory definition of what it means to be black that Afrofuturism seeks to escape and change, and the also what Africanfuturism seeks to rewrite. The trans-Atlantic slave trade which involved the transportation of over 10 million enslaved African people to various parts of main land America, the West Indies and Latin America from the 15th to the 19th centuries is regarded as one of the darkest times in world history. Ayi Kwei Armah posits that “the destruction of African high-cultures after massive and continuous invasions of Europe left many Africans surviving on the periphery or outer ring of what constituted the best in African civilization” (Armah, 1995; Ayivor, 2003). Since Afrofuturism focuses on traveling through time and space (Yaszek, 2006), the story about reconnecting the unmemorable part of black history with the present and the future presents writers the opportunity to reimagine this period. The conditions of the invasion and the subsequent slave trade, how Africans experienced conditions of homelessness, alienation, abuse, oppression and dislocation is what appeals to the Afrofuturists, and presents an opportunity of a historic recovery project (Gilroy, 1993; Yaszek, 2012). The ability to travel through time will thus present the artists the opportunity to re-narrate the happenings of the past through the lens of the global African, as well as place them in the future light that is glorifying of the status that fits a people who seek to regain their role as the makers of civilisation. The invasion of Africa also resulted in dire consequences for the Africans that were left behind. After the violent dislocation of cultures and lifestyles and the loss of skilled labour, colonisation – the successor to slavery- also resulted in the mental degradation of University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 22 the identity of Africans. Thus, the invasion of Africa, according to some writers such as Armah (1995) is the point at which the history of Africa took a negative turn for the worse, a time which was subsequently used as a strategy for keeping Africans useably underdeveloped (Adeoti, 2005; Armah, 1995) and in travel ahead of time and speculative fiction, that is the focal point at which the past (and future) are reimagined to influence a different present and future for the African and the black person. Secondly, another problem that Afrofuturism tackles is the lack of representation or the misrepresentation of global Africans, black culture and black settings in the future. As Soyinka writes, one of the social functions of literature is the visionary reconstruction of the past for the purpose of a social direction (Soyinka 1990, quoted in Adeoti, 2005; Soyinka & Wole, 1990). Nkrumah, for instance, postulates the situation in clear terms when he states that the history of segregation, colonisation and the demonization of African values, art, literature, science and social systems has resulted in the shunning of most of these fields in Africa, and among black communities, and has even resulted in African-Americans in the diaspora and other Africans on the continent having a mentally negative perception of these ideas (Nkrumah, 1963, Oct 25). The mental effects of this era are as bad, if not worse, than the physical effects. Due to this history, the identity of the global African is one that is generally looked down upon, especially by the west, riddled with clichés such as poverty, segregation, war, and more recently, terrorism (Esteve, 2016, Mar 22) and this is not different in speculative fiction. Hence, in its broadest dimensions Afrofuturism is an extension of the historical recovery projects that black Atlantic intellectuals have engaged in for well over 200 years. The African diaspora histories insist both on the authenticity of the black subject’s experience in Western history and the way this experience embodies the dislocation felt by many modern peoples (Yaszek, 2006). University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 23 African futuristic fiction and art seeks to change the discriminatory narrative of Africans and blacks, and as Ayivor (2003) also argues, “all Armah has done (in Osiris Rising) is to cloak in fictional fantasy the millennial history and the existential actuality of Africa and its Diaspora. To achieve this purpose, he has clothed countless fragments of African and Diasporic religion, mysticism, myths, culture, millennial ethno-history and contemporary existential realities in a fictional garb” (Ayivor, 2003). This, the writer further argues, is a tool that writers can use to challenge the inferiority complex that has been created through many years of discrimination and segregation, and to serve as a tool which would be used to change the narrative. Indeed, Ayi Kwei Armah also posits that, “In a world where we get served lies as truth on a daily basis, war as peace every hour, and impoverishment as development all the time, it is only just that a writer should choose to offer truth disguised as fiction” (Ayivor, 2003) in order to tackle the discrimination and misinformation about blacks and African futures. Ali Mazrui also argues that the discrimination that Africans and blacks suffer is “a product of its interaction with other cultures” and that “it took Africa’s contact with the Arab world to make the black people of Africa to realize that they were black by description” while adding that “to Europeans, black was not merely descriptive, it was also judgemental” (Mazrui, 2005). This is another instance which shows that the history of Africa’s interaction with other forces in the world, and subsequently the colonization of its land and people, introduced and perpetuated a false narrative about a backward and feebleminded people, with no history and as such no chance in the future (Hegel, 2001). It is this narrative that requires a reinvention of Africa and what the works of Afrofuturism seeks to do. In his popular TedTalk in 2017, American based Nigerian author Efusa Ojomo claimed that “innovations always precede development” (Ojomo, 2017, Aug 14) and that if University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 24 African countries want to develop, then they would have to first seek out innovative ways of tackling its issues. It is this concept of innovation, that is one of the core aspects in the promotion of science fiction, and in this sense, Afrofuturism on the continent and the diaspora. Continuous engagement and conversation about Afrofuturism will lead to an increase in the interest generated in science and technology, fused with African mythology, a phenomenon that will generate interest in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education, and could raise interest in the study of the field among the global African youth. This is premised on the fact that, various existing ‘simple’ means have been used to promote Afrofuturism by the youth especially, such as the use of the internet, being a main tool and a predominant factor in bringing all the people together, discerning the beginning of a new era in black history (Lee, 2016, Oct 17). In the post-World War II era, science fiction became increasingly popular and an increasingly respectable way to make sense of the emergence and proliferation of new science and technologies, including everything from the atomic bomb to the automatic coffeemaker, that seemed to propel Americans into a brave new future (Yaszek, 2006, p. 45). It is this same increasing popularity in science and technology, this time through the framework of Afrofuturism that it is hoped will cause a social change (Lee, 2016, Oct 17) and propel Pan Africanism and the emancipation of the future black race globally . Since the emergence of sci-fi movies in the 20th century, there have been attempts to treat black people as the victims of a wholly dystopic technoscientific modernity, where Afrodiasporic people are the unlucky descendants of slaves upon whose backs modern Western nations were built, and Africans are the victims of colonization practices that have wrought nothing but disease and famine (Yaszek, 2012, p. 10). Though sci-fi stories, as well as the very capacity to conceive a distance future, are a popular concept among University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 25 Africans and is represented in the grammar of some African languages (Rettová, 2017) there has been a glaring exclusion of black people from works of science fiction and futuristic art especially movies. Most science fiction movies which project the future limit the setting of the future to western settings, and until about a decade ago superhero films were almost universally about white male characters. Thus, Afrofuturism presents an opportunity and a space to host African innovations, promote black innovation and showcase black futuristic, sci-fi and speculative art as well as place the black person in the context of the future and how they wish to see themselves in it. It affords global Africans the opportunity to have superheroes that look like them, that come from where they are, and that solve problems relatable to them. Dugst-Apkem posits that it affords blacks the opportunity to represent blackness and black people within every realm and that there is the need to see that imagination is key, and representation has to do with allowing yourselves to be able to let imaginations take flight with that creative impulse. And that is what is essential (Dugst-Apkem, 2018). Mich Nyawalo also shares similar views about the social impact of speculative imagination and representation. He argues that, “if the social imaginary is construed as the range of representations, images and discourses that ‘produce and reproduce meaning’ in a given society, then the possibilities and limitations of these representations within creative works are constrained by, and can also push against, normative cultural and institutional boundaries that dominate (Mountian, 2012; Nyawalo, 2016). Lisa Yaszek adds from the diaspora view that, Afrofuturism provides both “apt metaphors for black life and history” and serves as an inspiration for “technical and creative innovations”, and by so doing, the genre creates new audiences for the stories that are created: those primarily young, white, Western, and middle-class men who comprise the majority of science fiction fans and University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 26 who might never otherwise learn much about the history of their country save what they haphazardly pick up in the high school classroom (Yaszek, 2006, p. 47). Therefore, the mental image that the Black, especially the African, can have about their role in the affairs of the future is shaped by the images they see of themselves, and how they are perceived. In other words, the social imagination both shapes and is shaped by local and global structures of power, and thus, it is by dismantling an imposed reality (used to interpret phenomena) that Africa (especially) can be transformed (Nyawalo, 2016). And the way that this is going to happen, is by creating an innovative content, a creative spectacle to rival the superimposed and discriminative notions that exists currently. The future world or the world in outer space can be a projection and construction of an ideal society, and while some works deal with the future and project an alternative reality, others introduce advanced technology and construct an alternative reality in outer space (Rettová, 2017). Indeed, much of Afrofuturism's humour and playfulness derives its power from the irony of the visual image of African Americans engaging in futuristic activities that have too often been coded as white in American media culture (Rollefson, 2008). As such, the works of the Afrofuturist, be it in music, movies, art, or literature, help to create the notion that they are also present in the future, and so is their art, cosmology, philosophy and crafts. In Afrofuturism, as well as Africanfuturism, there is a chance to envision a radical and progressive vision of blackness – one in which justice reigns in superheroes and where black creativity is mystical and fascinating. In this space, Black life matters (Peters, 2018, March 6). It is worth noting that there has been an attempt at growing such mystical and fascinating scenes not only in the diaspora, but in some countries in Africa too. For instance, Mawuli University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 27 Adjei in talking about evolution and the search for identity in the video-movie flourish in Ghana makes mention of 2016, a Ghanaian movie produced in 2014. He describes it as, “a quasi-futuristic science-fiction film themed on alien invasion, in which robotic aliens from space invade Ghana in their quest to conquer and dominate the entire country” (Adjei, 2014, p. 66). Adjei adds that “these technologically-induced images have enthralled and appealed to a large percentage of unsophisticated patrons who now have concrete visual expressions of the occult and other narrative tropes which exist in folklore and popular theatre, but are confined to the imagination.” 2.2 DEFINITIONS The term Afrofuturism as stated earlier, is a term that was coined by writer Mark Dery in his 1994 work “Flame Wars: The Discourse of Cyberculture” (Dery, 1993). Though the idea remains constant, that Afrofuturism has to do with the connection of the imagination of the future with the lives of global Africans (Rettová, 2017) many artists and authors have different opinions that they use to describe the term. With some pre-colonial African societies already having the concept of telling stories about the future, it has become contentious whether or not stories from such societies can be considered as Afrofuturism, or Africanfuturism, as some argue that Africans do not have the capacity to conceive of a “distant future” (Mbiti, 1990). Though such arguments have been proven refuted, the definitions are therefore very important to helping us understand the concept. Yaszek in a sentence defines the concept as appropriating “the narrative techniques of science fiction to put a black face on the future” (Yaszek, 2005, p. 297). Since the future of the Black is mostly a dystopian tale, Afrofuturism “uses the vocabulary of science University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 28 fiction to reconfigure the relations of race, science and technology “ as well as “disrupt, challenge and otherwise transform those futures with fantastic stories” (Yaszek, 2005, p. 301). Yaszek (2006) reemphasises Dery’s description of Afrofuturism in the work, “Afrofuturism, science fiction, and the history of the future” when she describes the concept as “speculative fiction that treats African-American themes and addresses African-American concerns in the context of 20th-century ‘techno culture’ – and more generally, African-American signification that appropriates images of technology and a prosthetically enhanced future” to explore how people of colour negotiate life in a technology intensive world” (Dery, 1993; Yaszek, 2006). British-Ghanaian writer Kodwo Eshun describes Afrofuturism as a program for recovering the histories of counter-futures created in a century hostile to Afrodiasporic projection and as a space within which the critical work of manufacturing tools capable of intervention within the current political dispensation may be undertaken (Eshun, 2003). This definition does not only take into consideration the lives and works of Africans in the diaspora, but also posits the African artist that researches this dimension will find a space for distinct kinds of anticipatory designs, projects of emulation, manipulation, parasitism” and that as a tool kit, “the imperative to code, adopt, adapt, translate, misread, rework, and revise these concepts, is likely to persist in the decades to come” (Eshun, 2003). Furthermore, leading Afrofuturist scholar Ytasha L. Womack defines Afrofuturism as “an intersection of imagination, technology, the future and liberation, in which Afrofuturists redefine culture and notions of blackness for today and the future by combining elements University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 29 of science fiction, historical fiction, speculative fiction, fantasy, Afrocentricity, and magic realism with non-Western beliefs” (Womack, 2013). The study also extensively focuses on the importance of Afrofuturism to the youth. Youth is a term used often when making referring to young people, someone with the vitality of a young person or people before the stage of maturity. However, for the purposes of this study, the researcher adopted the African Union Commission’s African Youth Charter definition of a youth as the population under study. Thus, youth refers to persons who are between the ages of 15 and 35 years old (African Union, 2006). 2.3 AFROFUTURISM AND IDENTITY Afrofuturism is very strong on the image it projects for the black person. As Yaszek (2005) posits, the genre is focused on having a Black face in the narrative of the future. For most creatives, the aim is to reclaim a lost racial identity in a dynamic and inspiring way (Lee, 2016, Oct 17) through the formation of a new, fluid identity that has had to be shaped after years of having a pejorative connotation to the black race (Esteve, 2016, Mar 22). Esteve (2016) argues that the term ‘black’ for long time had been associated with negative actions such slavery and inferiority, and as he quotes Eshun, slavery meant that black people had been existing in an alien-nation for about three centuries. Thus, there was the need for the creation of a new narrative about Blacks, where the people of African descent start writing alternative history and modelling the future (Lee, 2016, Oct 17). Since the origin of black people in the American diaspora is Africa, Afrofuturism is framed, albeit gradually, within the field of an African identity, especially in the latter half of the twentieth century (Esteve, 2016, Mar 22). Many of the creatives who University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 30 consistently shaped the genre in the diaspora especially at the formation held the view that the men, women and children shipped to the West Indies and North America from Africa during the slave trade era belonged to glorious empires and kingdoms that were eventually destroyed by raids and attacks from colonialists, and hence the destruction of their places of origin was done together with the destruction of the identities and their self-esteem, and this calls for the re-invention of Black Identity (vhedza1, 2018). Thus, Afrofuturism can also be classified as passably political, one that directs its effort towards the interruption in the process of Black identity formation that resulted from the violent disruption of African culture (vhedza1, 2018), and which seeks to inspire hope for the future (UKEssays, 2018). Hall Stuart describes this kind of identity as: a matter of 'becoming' as well as of 'being'. It belongs to the future as much as to the past. It is not something which already exists, transcending place, time, history and culture. Cultural identities come from somewhere, have histories. But, like everything which is historical, they undergo constant transformation (Hall, 1990, p. 225) The above excerpt shows that identities are created over periods of time, through various processes, continuously undergoing change, influenced by the past, a situation that results in a group of people as conferring on themselves something that they identify themselves with what they relate to after a time. Furthermore, the emergence of new media has also contributed massively to the formation and promotion of a new black identity, and one that can be viewed in the future. Film is cultural activity and an identity-marker (Adjei, 2014, p. 67), reaching and attracting a large and diverse audience, while providing iconic breakthroughs in cultural representation (Sweeney, 2019, Mar 1). New media has brought about a cultural University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 31 influence which can be a two-way affair, with the Africa influencing the rest of the world and vice versa. Film, like the theatre, employs the creative and aesthetic elements that are invoking to the visual, verbal and indeed all the sense that awaken emotions in an audience, such that they associate with the film, own the film and want it to be theirs (Adjei, 2014). However, Afrofuturism identity is not just limited to the diaspora. As will be established later on in this work, Afrofuturism as a concept differs based on the origin of the creative or the artist involved. Thus, artists and creatives in Africa have a slightly different approach to the concept as compared to their counterparts in the diaspora. Like Zambian- born Afrofuturist writer, photographer and activist, Masiyaleti Mbewe argues, creatives born and raised in Africa create their identities based on their exposure to folklore and myths from the different spaces they find themselves in Africa (vhedza1, 2020). The dichotomy is found in the understanding that the life experiences and contemporary history differ purely because they exists in different parts of the world (vhedza1, 2020). Therefore, when the Ethiopian creative and comic producer Beserat Debebe created the country’s first female superhero comic character Hawi, the identity stemmed from the mysteries of the kingdoms and queendoms of Ethiopia’s rich past (Kiunguyu, 2019, Mar 25) and was not influenced by slavery or any of such similar negative psyches. 2.4 AFROFUTURISM AND BLACK LIVES MATTER Another definition of Afrofuturism is proposed in the spirit of sociology. That is, Afrofuturism is a literary style which puts Black experiences in the central premise which is demonstrated through fantasy and science fiction (Huddleston, 2016). UK Essays in a 2018 publication titled Black Lives Matter Movement and Afrofuturism argues that “the University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 32 most important common thread between Black Lives Matter and Afrofuturism is the goal to dissuade racism and white supremacy.” The essay further argues that the next common thread is the skill with which these groups utilize technology, social networks and artistic media to work together towards a common goal. Thus, the historical issues which influences the central theme of Afrofuturism, which is to portray endless possibilities to the traditionally oppressed to rise above life’s challenges, are similar to issues that influence the Black Lives Matter movement. As the Essays material also argues, “the current mindset is that Blacks are not equal; schools are still segregated; whites are especially favoured; and the future for Blacks is bleak.” The Black Lives Matter movement is an example of what happens when technology and resistance merge to fight oppression. Essay posits that it is where the image of a superhero, takes on a less science fiction form and demonstrates how technology and black people can make things happen and possibly change the future. As subsequent events have shown, rather than depending on media or word of mouth on the street to spread the word or organize rallies, Twitter offers a forum upon which news of black injustice may be circulated and Facebook supports the assimilation of rallies. this also shows the point that “Afrofuturism is the mechanism that creates and then portrays endless possibilities to the traditionally oppressed to rise above life’s challenges” (Essays, 2018) Also, Afrofuturism and the Black Lives Matter movement show that there is an opportunity for oppressed people to also have an opportunity to achieve their potential. Afrofuturism evinces that representation matters. Afrofuturism takes the situation, the wishes and ambitions of the movement and inserts the desire for representation into a University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 33 futuristic setting. Essay (2018) states that, “Just think for a moment of the results of forces joined between Afrofuturists and Black Lives Matter members! One would have the opportunity to exposure to Black history outside the white wash. The other could contribute to changing the future by interacting with the real-time, present.” Afrofuturism and the Black Lives Matter movement give a voice to the oppressed and subjugated people in the diaspora and all other such groups everywhere. Afrofuturism, thus, provides a forum within which hope is inspired for the future. 2.5 AFROFUTURISM VERSUS AFRICANFUTURISM 2.5.1 “AFROFUTURISM IS NOT FOR AFRICANS LIVING IN AFRICA” In recent times, there has been an ongoing debate as to how “African” the nature of Afrofuturism is. Though creatives associated with Afrofuturism have always drawn a picture that the concept is about the global African, especially about the future of the global African and how the past can impact the imagined future, not everyone agrees to the form it has been popularly presented in. In 2018, South African writer Mohale Mashigo argued that the concept of Afrofuturism does not resonate well with continental Africans. In her write up titled ‘Afrofuturism is not for Africans living in Africa’, she raises an interesting points about the need to be dynamic about Afrofuturism in Africa, and even among the various countries, due to the fact that though the colonial and post-independence experiences of global Africans are similar, they are not the same and as such the future (just like the past) should be context specific (Mashigo, 2018, Oct 1). As a continental African, she maintains that she finds it “insincere” to parrot the futuristic conceptions of writers from the diaspora as ‘totally hers”. She posits that, “It would be University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 34 disingenuous of me to take Afrofuturism wholesale and pretend that it is ‘my size’. What I want for Africans living in Africa is to imagine a future in their storytelling that deals with issues that are unique to us.” She adds that “Afrofuturism is an escape for those who find themselves in the minority and divorced or violently removed from their African roots, so they imagine a ‘Black future’ where they aren’t a minority and are able to marry their culture with technology. That is a very important story and it means a lot to many people. There are so many wonderful writers from the diaspora dealing with those feelings or complexities that it would be insincere of me to parrot what they are doing” (Mashigo, 2018, Oct 1). The writer here maintains that the challenges of South Africa, where a small minority owns most of the land and lives better lives than the rest, will be totally different from other parts of the continent which do not have to deal with the land reform issue, but rather an issue of insurgency and political instability, such as the Sahel region of West Africa or even imperialism and neo-colonialism in many parts of the continent. Therefore, “we need a project that predicts -it is fiction after all- Africa’s future ‘postcolonialism’. . . because colonialism (and apartheid) affected us in unique, but sometimes similar, ways” (Mashigo, 2018, Oct 1). 2.5.2 AFRICANFUTURISM NOT AFROFUTURISM Another ongoing debate, and very relatable in this context, is the Afrofuturism- Africanfuturism debate. Coined by Nigerian writer and professor Nnedi Okorafor, the term Africanfuturism is similar to “Afrofuturism” in the way that Blacks on the continent and in the Black Diaspora are all connected by blood, spirit, history and future. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 35 Nnedi Okorafor, who describes herself as an “Africanfuturist and Africanjujuist”, explains the difference as Africanfuturism “specifically and more directly rooted in African culture, history, mythology and point-of-view as it then branches into the Black Diaspora, and it does not privilege or center the West” (Okorafor, 2019, Oct 19). Okorafor (2009) also states other differences including, Africanfuturism “predominantly written by people of African descent”, “rooted first and foremost in Africa”, “less concerned with ‘what could have been’ and more concerned with ‘what is and can/will be’” and that “Its default is non-western; its default/center is African and has to extend beyond the continent of Africa, though often it does.” She cites an example as, Afrofuturism: Wakanda builds its first outpost in Oakland, CA, USA. Africanfuturism: Wakanda builds its first outpost in a neighbouring African country. Wakanda is an imaginary country in the Marvel Films 2018 sci-fi movie Black Panther. Wakanda is the world’s most technologically-advanced country and a far cry from typical depictions of poverty-stricken Africa. In this example, Okorafor explains how the country of Wakanda would be described under the various genres. Her first description is from the diaspora-influenced concept of Afrofuturism, while the second is from the continental African influenced concept of Africanfuturism. Though both definitions show a progressive, digital-first country with new technologies and ideas, the presentation of the cities is different per the genres. Päivi Väätänen, in a 2019 article on Afro- versus African futurism in two of Nnedi Okorafor’s works states the difference that, whereas an Afrofuturist text engages with American culture via direct critique of stereotypes and racist genre conventions, Africanfuturism is rooted both geographically and culturally on the continent (Väätänen, University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 36 2019, Oct 13). Furthermore, Väätänen (2019) also explains that while Afrofuturism works are actively facilitating the decolonization of genre by attacking narrative expectations in need of dismantling, Africanfuturism focuses more on the decolonized narrative that offers a reconstructed identity. However, the most significant point that can be made about African futurists is the fact that African futurists when writing their own stories, they can cut ties with the West, with the “reality” that needs to be “inverted,” and establish a new normalcy that is not dependent on comparisons with Eurocentric, racist and colonialist traditions of Anglo American science fiction (Väätänen, 2019, Oct 13). This debate has therefore raised more questions in the field of speculative fiction, Africa and science and technology. Should Africans shun Afrofuturism? Is Africanfuturism the ‘future’ of African science fiction? Though these questions do arise, what we understand is that both the goals of Afrofuturism and Africanfuturism can be summarized and generally put forward as “the prospect for freedom of social transformation through science fiction and technology” (Lavender, 2011). With these arguments made, it would be fair to agree with the arguments of Mohale Mashingo and others from section 1.0 of this chapter, that “Afrofuturism is not for Africans living in Africa” and that though the concept, in modern times, has copiously benefitted from the emergence and popularity of the Afrofuturist concept, the aims, goals and aspirations of both, though they might sound similar, are definitely not close to being the same. The concepts can however benefit from each other, especially with Africanfuturism now feeding from Afrofuturism and taking it a step further. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 37 2.5.3 AFRICAN JUJUISM AND AFRICANFUTURISM African Jujuism is an aspect of Africanfuturism which was coined by American-Nigerian writer and scholar Nnedi Okorafor, who as stated in section 2.0 of this chapter describes herself also as an “African Jujuist”. In November 2018 while speaking at an event held at Liberty Hall, Kansan University, Okorafor explained that African Jujuism is not just any kind of fantasy literature because it “sort of complicates the idea of fantasy because it weaves in real beliefs” and further added that “the magical society in the book is based on a real society in Nigeria, and this is something I knew about even before I wrote books, so when I sat down to write them, I was pulling from the culture that I am of” (Paige, 2018). Okorafor reiterated this point in her address to Highland Park High School in February 2019 during the school’s literary festival. She said, “This is not Harry Potter – this is African Jujuism. One can read it like it is fantasy, but there are people who actually believe these things. It’s important to understand that to understand the literature” (Kelleher, 2019, Feb 27). Hence, the concept of African Jujuism, may be characterised as the adoption of real belief systems in the writings and other works of fantasy and science fiction, especially in the works of Africanfuturism. 2.6 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK To answer the research questions posed in Chapter one of this work, I propose Pan- Africanism as a theoretical framework for the study. And in this section, I define what Pan-Africanism, identify the key concepts of the theory and explain them. I then offer a brief background to the concept and ideology of Pan-Africanism and how it has evolved University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 38 over time. Finally, I explain how it fits into my study and show why it is an appropriate framework for the study. Former African freedom fighter and Professor of African American Studies, Horace Campbell (1988) postulates that Pan-Africanism was a manifestation of nationalist consciousness and that this concept is internationalist in so far as it seeks the unity of people living in a large number of juridically independent states. Another acclaimed Pan-Africanist, Dr St. Clair Drake defined Pan-Africanism as a “worldwide Black consciousness that has a psychological reserve that can be mobilized to achieve local ends as well as to aid others as the liberation process continues” (Tarik, 2018). Most importantly and for the purposes of this work, Tarik (2018) also posits that Pan- Africanism exists within the global Black world as an imaginative return to Africa, a practical platform and as a futuristic theory for global Black freedom. From the above definitions, I deduce that Pan-Africanism is built on the notion that the people of African origins and descent have interests in common. Also, the emergence of the global Africa idea constituted a major breakthrough in the search of an oppressed people for self-emancipation. The main reasons for choosing this theory, and this framework as a structure to support my analysis of afro/African futurism is that Pan-Africanism as a theoretical framework seeks to promote the rediscovery and reconstruction of the African identity and projecting the black person as worthy of esteem and respect (Middleton, 1970). In the quest to rediscover Africa and define the identity of Africans in the contemporary world, works of creative art such as music, films, paintings etc serve as a vehicle which can be used to transport the message of Pan-Africanism. As a framework to analyse Afrofuturism, the University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 39 study looks at the relationship between the genre as a tool for reconstruction of the African identity and the dignity of the black race, and how it promotes Pan-Africanism such rediscovery, especially of traditional values, myths, ideologies and technologies. July (1983) proves that the desire to restate in modern times the verities of traditional African values is expressed in varied fashion; in the novels of Chinua Achebe and Ayi Kwei Armah; in the choreography of A. M. Opoku and his Ghana Dance Ensemble; and in the plays of Efua Sutherland. He further argues that “political freedom would thrive best when accompanied by a parallel autonomy of cultural expression” (July, 1983, p. 119). The proponents of Pan-Africanism just as in the case of Afrofuturism, however, must not stringently be continental Africans. July (1993, p. 126) throwing more light on cultural Pan Africanism and the rediscovery of Africa through art further posits that, “Soyinka sees epic drama as the means through which the African returns to his sources… African civilisation is its own civilization.” Thus, he later adds, “What is essential, however, is a technology expressly designed and adapted to African requirements.” Furthermore, as mentioned earlier by Tarik, Pan-Africanism exists within the black world to prove the possibility of its rapid development through the introduction of modern techniques and to find some synthesis between the needs of modernization and the preservation of African society and culture (Geiss, 1969). What the framework seeks to interpret and explain is the proof of Afrofuturism to the rediscovery of Africa and the Black race. Afrofuturism as a genre aims to prove the rapid development through the introduction of modern techniques and project blacks and Africans out of the abyss of the plethora of challenges it faces. This phenomenon can be made possible through the introduction of modern techniques, and the synthesis between the need for rediscovery and the preservation of African society and culture. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 40 Culture is composed of the general lifestyle of a group of people. Mawuli Adjei posits also that, “like folklore and music, film is a cultural activity and an identity-marker” (Adjei, 2014, p. 67). During the long periods of oppression, the Europeans tried to erase the African memory and instil a sense of shame attached to their culture and within the community (Zulu, 2017). Thus, for most African Studies scholars, the history of Africa is doctored, misinforming and narrow, beginning from the point at which there was an attempt to erase the African culture and memory, which is the colonization period and often told from the point of view of the oppressor. This ignores the Africa that was before the demeaning period of slavery and exploitation of Africa and puts the black race in a disgraceful minority. For instance, in The Image of Africa, Achebe in describing the writings of Conrad states the dehumanizing way the African was characterised as follows, “Africa as setting and backdrop which eliminates the African as human factor. Africa as a metaphysical battlefield devoid of all recognizable humanity, into which the wandering European enters at his peril. Of course, there is a preposterous and perverse kind of arrogance in thus reducing Africa to the role of props for the breakup of one petty European mind” (Achebe, 1978, p. 9). Furthermore, it is widely agreed, that the origin of Pan Africanism begins from the Diaspora communities in the late 1800s (Agbeyebiawo, 1998; Edozie, 2012) before it was later brought to Africa in the mid twentieth century. The word Pan Africanism is also recorded to have been birthed or first used in 1900 during the first Pan African conference organized by Sylvester Williams in London (Agbeyebiawo, 1998). The ideological sibling of Pan Africanism, Negritude, was also first expounded by Aime Cesaire, a revolutionary, poet and political leader of Martinique (Middleton, 1970). From this background, we can commence by stating that a concept that focuses so much on the African and black person must not compulsorily be birthed by Africans on the continent, University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 41 but can be brought forth by any black person both on the continent and in the diaspora. As Du Bois stated in a letter to Kwame Nkrumah, "the bond is no mere colour of skin, but the deeper experience of wage-slavery and contempt” (Agbeyebiawo, 1998). The African diaspora, “is the result of at least three major movements of peoples; The first movement is that which we associate with the Atlantic slave trade, beginning in the mid fifteenth century, this stream brought upwards of 200,000 persons to Europe and twelve million or more to the Americas before it ended in the nineteenth century. The second movement is associated with the East African slave trade to Asia, which roughly concluded with the era of the Atlantic slave trade. The third stream is the contemporary movement of Africans and peoples of African descent to various societies of the globe” (Palmer, 2000). Another construct is that Pan Africanism as a concept is for the identity and re-invention of Africa, and is one that is supported by famous Pan Africanists, especially the freedom fighters and nation founders. In Revisiting Nkrumah: Pathways For the Future, Frehiwot posits that, “much like Amilcar Cabral of Cape Verde in his book Return to the Source, Nkrumah believed culture played an active role in the liberation and development process and called on the realization of an African personality to assist with the cultural transformation (Frehiwot, 2017). He (Nkrumah) agreed with (Ahmed) Toure and (Amilcar) Cabral that culture encompassed much more than dancing and singing; it was the totality of life and it influenced economics and politics” (Frehiwot, 2017, p. 133). She further adds that to Nkrumah, culture could be used as a revolutionary force to change the mindset of Ghanaians and Africans alike. In this case, Pan-Africanism is the structure that is supporting the themes of Afrofuturism to find out how this can be possible. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 42 Horace Campbell posits, “in the context of the twenty first century, Pan Africanism will continue to mean the struggle for emancipation through diverse means; seeking unity and expressing the common purpose of fighting white domination and restoring African community (Campbell, 1996, p. 90). Thus, one of the key principles underlying Pan Africanism, is the unity of all African peoples. Therefore, the works of all Pan- Africanists should not seem to divide or pitch Blacks or African groups against each other, but rather such works should show and promote the unity and beauty in diversity of Africans. As Campbell (1996) further argues that, “Pan Africanism must develop a new pedagogy, in essence, a new way for the reproduction, transference and use of knowledge”. During Nkrumah’s installation as Chancellor of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in 1961, he also stated that, “It is important for every student to maintain his links with the African scene, and thus understand the great cause of African Unity to which we are committed. All Africa is moving closer and closer together” (Obeng, 1979). Furthermore, as a theoretical framework, Pan Africanism is valid in an academic discourse because it challenges us to produce the kind of imaginations and ideas which can inspire people to look forward to a great future, that helps create a dynamic society with equal opportunities for all and where the aims and needs of the society adjust and adapt to reflect the societal change (Nkrumah, 1963, Oct 25). These ideas, though propounded to academics, do not and should not only involve or be applicable by an elite group like political leaders or scholars, but involve artists, creatives, the youth and indeed all African people wherever they find themselves. One such example is the work of the Rastafari as it relates to Pan Africanism. The Rastafari and their Pan African activism points to forms of social organisation and social movements among oppressed Africans at home and abroad, where the ideas of racial University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 43 superiority circulated widely in the twentieth century, became popular among all, and led to the widespread assertion by Africans that, “so long as there are people who deny our humanity as blacks, then for so long must we proclaim our humanity as blacks” (Campbell, 1988). Campbell (1988) also echoes Eusi Kwayana’s views that, “the power of art that Bob Marley’s music represented had done more to popularize the real issues of African liberation than several decades of back breaking work by Pan Africanists and international revolutionaries. Campbell further argues that at the level of consciousness, the appeal of artistic people like the Rasta was not embedded only in the conceptions of liberations, but in the admonition that the youth should emancipate themselves from mental slavery. Thus, Pan-Africanism as a concept, offers an opportunity to redefine the relationships between identity, oppression, resistance, unity and emancipation. Adeyemi (2009) argues that African cinema, in the service of cultural nationalism, must be seen and used as a revolutionary weapon fashioned to provide concepts of leadership, community collaboration, economic structures and socio-political mobilization capable of engendering radical change which will help Blacks define their own culture, based on their heritage and history. To conclude, Pan-Africanism in the twenty first century continues to mean the relationship between the struggle for emancipation through diverse means, seeking unity and expressing the common purpose of liberation, specifically fighting and restoring African community (Campbell, 1996). It deals with the idea of how we define identity and the re-invention of Africa, not just in a local concept, but one that is inclusive of an existing diaspora. Therefore, under the lens of Pan-Africanism, Afrofuturism is analysed University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 44 as a potential force, and most importantly cultural tool that is able to serve as an instrument for emancipation from the stereotyped and looked-down-upon narrative of the 21st century. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 45 CHAPTER 3 - FINDINGS 3.0 INTRODUCTION Moving on from the ongoing debates in the field of Afrofuturism and other related sub- fields, this section looks at the findings and analysis of some of the data taken for the study. This chapter looks at the common issues that run through both the novel Kindred and the movie Black Panther. The researcher intends to find out how issues such as power, gender and time intersect with race to develop the Afrofuturistic phenomena that results in black people seeing themselves in a better future despite a troubled past and present. This will be done in the framework of Pan Africanism. This chapter begins with an introduction to the writer Octavia Butler, the author of many Afrofuturist novels, including Kindred, the novel being analysed. A brief background and summary are also given about the movie Black Panther. This is to give an introduction to the personality of an Afrofuturist writer. The researcher then analyses the issues in the novel, as well as those in the movie, and intends to unearth other factors that promote the genre of Afrofuturism. 3.1 BIOGRAPHY OF OCTAVIA BUTLER Amanda Prahl in her 2019 article states that Octavia Estelle Butler was born on June 22, 1947 in California and she is the first and only child to a mother who worked as a housemaid and a father who was a shoeshine man (Prahl, 2019, Nov 27, p. 205). Her father died when she was seven years old, and she was raised by her mother and her grandmother for most of her young age. There were many times she followed her mother to a clients’ homes, and she witnessed how disdainfully her mother was often treated by her white employers. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 46 Prahl (2019) also narrates that, “Outside of her family life, Butler struggled. She had to deal with mild dyslexia, as well as having an intensely shy personality. As a result, she struggled to form friendships and was often the target of bullies. She spent the bulk of her time at the local library, reading and, eventually, writing.” With her passion in creative pursuits, she read more and eventually begun writing, submitting short stories for publishing as early as the age of 13. In an interview with Stephen Potts in February 1996 when asked who her “authorial influences” were as an apprentice writer, she remarked to Potts: “I read a lot of science fiction with absolutely no discrimination when I was growing up-I mean, good, bad, or awful [laughs]. It didn't matter. I remember latching onto people and reading everything I could find by them, people like John Brunner, who wrote a lot. . . I tended to read whatever was in the house, which meant that I read a lot of odd stuff. Who was that guy that used to write about men's clubs all the time? John O'Hara. It was Mars for me. I like British between-the-wars mysteries for the same reason. They take place on Mars; they're different worlds (Potts & Butler, 1996, pp. 333 - 334). While in college, she Butler was exposed to classmates involved in the Black Power Movement “who criticized previous generations of Black Americans for accepting a subservient role” (Prahl, 2019, Nov 27), a time which would later influence her writing. Butler’s breakthrough came when she attended a program held by the Writers Guild of America to facilitate the development of minority writers. One of her teachers there was Harlan Ellison, a science fiction writer who had written one of the most famous Star Trek episodes, as well as several pieces of New Age and science fiction writing. Ellison was University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 47 impressed with Butler’s work and encouraged her to attend a six-week science fiction workshop held in Clarion, Pennsylvania. Not only did she meet lifelong friends such as Samuel R. Delany, but she produced some of her first work to be published (Prahl, 2019, Nov 27). Butler, often referred to as a godmother of Afrofuturism (Gibson, 2018, Jun 22), has 18 novels and several short stories to her name, including bestsellers like Kindred (1979), Wild Seed (1980) and Parable of the Sower (1993). She acknowledged that she has three audiences, “the science fiction audience, the black audience, and the feminist audience” (Potts & Butler, 1996). Potts referred to Butler as “a woman of colour working in a genre that has almost none”, and in her conversation with him (Potts), she stated that, “science fiction is supposed to be about exploring new ideas and possibilities” (Potts & Butler, 1996). Crossley in his critical essay of the novel wrote that, “In all her fiction she has produced parables that speak to issues of cultural difference, whether sexual, racial, political, economic or psychological, and to issues of mastery and self-mastery. Kindred shares imagery with Butler’s futuristic novels, in particular with Parable of the Talents, whose electronically controlled collars and neurological ‘lashings’ are but science-fictional extrapolations of the plantation owners’ coffles and whippings” (Crossley, 2003, p. 268). One of the few women of colour publishing in a genre dominated by white men, Butler won the coveted Hugo Award and Nebula Prize twice each for her novella "Bloodchild," her short story "Speech Sounds," and her novel Parable of the Talents, respectively, as well as being the first science fiction writer to ever receive the MacArthur Fellowship (Gibson, 2018, Jun 22). University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 48 3.2.1 BACKGROUND OF THE BLACK PANTHER PARTY The name Black Panther is was made famous in the 1966 when a pro-black group was formed in Oakland, California to confront politicians and police violence against black people, and to also protect black citizens from police viciousness in America (NMAAHC, 2020). Founded by young political activists Huey Newton and Bobby Seale, the group was initially referred to as the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense and attracted widespread support among young urban blacks, who were often seen clad in the party’s black leather jackets and black berets distinctive costume, and were also often seen carrying weapons (Carson & Carson, 1990). The Black Panther Party (BPP) was formed from the Civil Rights Movement which was headed by civil rights activist Dr Martin Luther King Jnr. The BPP thus was made up of a young generation that had given up on Martin Luther King’s non-violent tactics, and while the Civil Rights Movement sought equality with whites and was mainly a middle- class group, the BPP assumed equality and saw an opportunity to express that equality. For them, they saw black power as a global revolution, that they were tired of the inferiority complex that the white society had for a long time put on black people and linked their liberation activities with other movements in Africa and South East Asia (NMAAHC, 2020). In an interview granted in the late mid 1960s, Huey Newton explained why they used the black panther as a symbol: “We used the panther as our symbol because of the nature of panthers. Panthers do not strike anyone but when he is assailed upon that he will back up first, but if the aggressor continues, then he will strike out.” ~ (The New York Times, 2015, Jan 23) University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 49 The party’s appeal among young people was due to its willingness t