Afrofuturism and dystopia in Who Fears Death (2010), by Nnedi Okorafor
This article analyzes Nnedi Okorafor's novel Who Fears Death: Onye and the Prophecy (2014) based on the connections between Afrofuturism and dystopia, with an emphasis on black female protagonists and the representation of violence as a historical technology of domination. Set in a post-apocalyptic Africa, the narrative mobilizes mythical, magical, and speculative elements to problematize the persistence of race, gender, and power relations projected into the future. Far from presenting the future as a neutral or redemptive space, the work highlights how historical inequalities continue to structure subjectivities, bodies, and regimes of belonging. The research, which is qualitative and interpretive in nature, is based on studies of dystopian fiction and young adult literature (James, 2009), Afrofuturism understood as aesthetics and political practice (Womack, 2003; Nelson, 2002), and black feminism, with emphasis on the contributions of Patricia Hill Collins (1990), Audre Lorde (1984), Saidiya Hartman (1997), and Octavia E. Butler (1979). These theoretical contributions allow us to understand Onyesonwu's trajectory as traversed by multiple layers of oppression and resistance, in which body, memory, language, and ancestry play a central role. It is argued that the novel reinscribes the black female body as a simultaneous space for the inscription of historical violence and the production of agency, displacing readings that reduce it to passivity. By articulating magic, writing, and collective memory as forms of knowledge and intervention in the world, Who Fears Death affirms Afrofuturism as a narrative strategy of resistance and reimagination of possible futures in the field of contemporary young adult literature.
Afrofuturism and dystopia in Who Fears Death (2010), by Nnedi Okorafor
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.22533/at.ed.5157426180210
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Palavras-chave: Afrofuturism. Dystopia. Contemporary young adult literature. Black female protagonism.
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Keywords: Afrofuturism. Dystopia. Contemporary young adult literature. Black female protagonism.
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Abstract:
This article analyzes Nnedi Okorafor's novel Who Fears Death: Onye and the Prophecy (2014) based on the connections between Afrofuturism and dystopia, with an emphasis on black female protagonists and the representation of violence as a historical technology of domination. Set in a post-apocalyptic Africa, the narrative mobilizes mythical, magical, and speculative elements to problematize the persistence of race, gender, and power relations projected into the future. Far from presenting the future as a neutral or redemptive space, the work highlights how historical inequalities continue to structure subjectivities, bodies, and regimes of belonging. The research, which is qualitative and interpretive in nature, is based on studies of dystopian fiction and young adult literature (James, 2009), Afrofuturism understood as aesthetics and political practice (Womack, 2003; Nelson, 2002), and black feminism, with emphasis on the contributions of Patricia Hill Collins (1990), Audre Lorde (1984), Saidiya Hartman (1997), and Octavia E. Butler (1979). These theoretical contributions allow us to understand Onyesonwu's trajectory as traversed by multiple layers of oppression and resistance, in which body, memory, language, and ancestry play a central role. It is argued that the novel reinscribes the black female body as a simultaneous space for the inscription of historical violence and the production of agency, displacing readings that reduce it to passivity. By articulating magic, writing, and collective memory as forms of knowledge and intervention in the world, Who Fears Death affirms Afrofuturism as a narrative strategy of resistance and reimagination of possible futures in the field of contemporary young adult literature.
- Micheli Cristiana Ribas Camargo
