The Deep Space Nine episode “Far Beyond the Stars” does an excellent job of incorporating the theme of afrofuturism into the story line. The definition of Afrofuturism is implemented into this episode when the African american dream is implemented into the future. Through Captain Sisko’s vision and leadership he is able to fulfill the goal of the prophet and inform the people to change their ways for equality amongst people of different color. In this episode Captain Sisko takes black to the past through dreams that he has while commanding the space base guarding the wormhole.
Suddenly Captain Sisko teleports back to the early 1900’s where he is a columnist for fictional paranormal newspaper. He begins to work as an unsuccessful black speculative fiction writer, trying to convince the community that black people have a future. This is very similar to when Captain Sisko is aboard his vessel in the future, where he tries to convince his allies and friends that they can make peace with their enemies, the Cardassians. Using his father and his past to guide him, Captain Sisko’s spirit persists to unite the people and serve as a prophet and a leader.
I find it interesting that even the least conservative paranormal newspaper company finds it difficult to identify a writer as being black. Captain Sisko has the most difficulty when publishing the best story he ever wrote because the protagonist is African American. The irony is that even though the public will read about martians coming to earth to have a picnic in the park they will not pay heed to a story that embellishes a person of color as the protagonist. The step back into the past helps to show the extremities that were endured by African Americans and puts the future into perspective.
Finally the father’s advice gives Captain Sisko the strength he needs to accomplish what he needs. The father tells Captain Sisko that he “is the dreamer, and the dream” and Captain Sisko decides that he “will stay and finish the job that he started.” Ultimately Captain Sisko pursues his dream to unite the black people and white as a speculative fiction writer just as he attempts to unite the Cardassians and the federation as the Captain of a space ship. The idea of Afrofuturism in this episode shows how the dream of peace is still as prevalent today as it was back then, and it is a message that needs to be remembered in the future. When Captain Sisko wakes from his dream he decides to stay as the captain of the ship, and to follow his dreams that have been prevalent in his heritage since the early nineteen hundreds.
Monday, May 28, 2007
Sunday, May 20, 2007
The Fusion of Species and Race
The following is an from Samuel Delaney's "Stars in my Pocket like Grains of Sand":
On my left, sound increased. I shifted my shoulders under Rat's hands, and turned to see first Ollivet't's, then Shalleme's scooter pull abreast. Ollivet't said with three tongues at once, loud enough to cover it:
{ "WHAT WAS THAT?"
{ "WHAT WAS THAT?"
{ "WHAT WAS THAT?"
I shouted, loud as I could (it doesn't compete): "I'LL TELL YOU LATER." Then as an afterthought: "YOU WOULDN'T BELIEVE ME IF I DID," and hoped Shalleme could read my lips. It's a talent many of us humans have been developing as a sort of racial compensation.
- From Page 260 of 20th anniversary edition of "Stars in my Pocket like Grains of Sand".
This particular passage really struck out of me because of the sentence construction and the form that Delaney writes this novel. Through close reading there can be specific implications outlined in Delaney's modified writing style. Delaney is adept at creating science fiction through the imagery of the meanings and also through the formation of the words. Through formatting and language manipulation Delaney creates "sentences [that] trip and trick you into saying, into seeing" - which is a quote taken from a interview with Delaney on his book. Rather than using word connotations to construct science fiction Delaney makes use of the language signifiers and symbols. This advanced literary technique is what makes this book really shine as a piece of science fiction. Delaney is defamiliarizing the aspects of language and redefining them - the pure essence of a science fiction novel.
In mathematics an open left bracket, like the one Delaney uses in the dialog from the passage, symbolizes the parameters of a given function. By designating a symbol and using the open bracket you can define a set of values mapped from another set of values with given parameters. In the passage Delaney creates a function of Ollivet't's voice, which gives three outputs. This application forces the reader to read the same line three times and emphasizes the sentence through rhetorical structure. Normally a writer strengthens intensity of a dialog by capitalizing or italicizing the sentence, but Delaney moves a step farther by providing the bracket to symbolize three sentences in one. One of the crucial differences in society is the prevalence of language and here Delaney twists Ollivet't's language in order to emphasize the difference between humans and Evelmis.
Here the Evelmi alien, Ollivet't uses three tongues to convey it's bewilderment when being pursued by dozens of flying Evelmis and humans on scooters. Marq shouts back but her voice "does not compete" with Ollivet't. This returns to earlier in the book when Santina is describing the difference between Evelmi, saying that humans and Evelmi will never understand one another because Evelmis have more tongues than claws. Marq hopes "Shallem [can] read [her] lips," refering to the communication barrier that exists between their species. This displays the essential difference paralleled throughout the book that Evelmi and humans do not understand one another - fueling a dichotomy between them.
One of the most intriguing aspects of this passage is the conclusion. Marq's lip reading ability is develped as a "racial compensation" between the Evelmis and humans. Again, Delaney defamiliarizes the present. Race is no longer between humans of different skin colors. The conflict of race inherent through Delaney's novel implies that race is now defined by species. Evelmi, Xiv, and Humans are different races in this 6,000 world universe. What I love about this novel is that it explores outerworldy perspective on the formation and conflict of race. Black, white, asian are different races but Delaney points out that if we were to encounter alien species in the future our species will be as one, the human race.
On my left, sound increased. I shifted my shoulders under Rat's hands, and turned to see first Ollivet't's, then Shalleme's scooter pull abreast. Ollivet't said with three tongues at once, loud enough to cover it:
{ "WHAT WAS THAT?"
{ "WHAT WAS THAT?"
{ "WHAT WAS THAT?"
I shouted, loud as I could (it doesn't compete): "I'LL TELL YOU LATER." Then as an afterthought: "YOU WOULDN'T BELIEVE ME IF I DID," and hoped Shalleme could read my lips. It's a talent many of us humans have been developing as a sort of racial compensation.
- From Page 260 of 20th anniversary edition of "Stars in my Pocket like Grains of Sand".
This particular passage really struck out of me because of the sentence construction and the form that Delaney writes this novel. Through close reading there can be specific implications outlined in Delaney's modified writing style. Delaney is adept at creating science fiction through the imagery of the meanings and also through the formation of the words. Through formatting and language manipulation Delaney creates "sentences [that] trip and trick you into saying, into seeing" - which is a quote taken from a interview with Delaney on his book. Rather than using word connotations to construct science fiction Delaney makes use of the language signifiers and symbols. This advanced literary technique is what makes this book really shine as a piece of science fiction. Delaney is defamiliarizing the aspects of language and redefining them - the pure essence of a science fiction novel.
In mathematics an open left bracket, like the one Delaney uses in the dialog from the passage, symbolizes the parameters of a given function. By designating a symbol and using the open bracket you can define a set of values mapped from another set of values with given parameters. In the passage Delaney creates a function of Ollivet't's voice, which gives three outputs. This application forces the reader to read the same line three times and emphasizes the sentence through rhetorical structure. Normally a writer strengthens intensity of a dialog by capitalizing or italicizing the sentence, but Delaney moves a step farther by providing the bracket to symbolize three sentences in one. One of the crucial differences in society is the prevalence of language and here Delaney twists Ollivet't's language in order to emphasize the difference between humans and Evelmis.
Here the Evelmi alien, Ollivet't uses three tongues to convey it's bewilderment when being pursued by dozens of flying Evelmis and humans on scooters. Marq shouts back but her voice "does not compete" with Ollivet't. This returns to earlier in the book when Santina is describing the difference between Evelmi, saying that humans and Evelmi will never understand one another because Evelmis have more tongues than claws. Marq hopes "Shallem [can] read [her] lips," refering to the communication barrier that exists between their species. This displays the essential difference paralleled throughout the book that Evelmi and humans do not understand one another - fueling a dichotomy between them.
One of the most intriguing aspects of this passage is the conclusion. Marq's lip reading ability is develped as a "racial compensation" between the Evelmis and humans. Again, Delaney defamiliarizes the present. Race is no longer between humans of different skin colors. The conflict of race inherent through Delaney's novel implies that race is now defined by species. Evelmi, Xiv, and Humans are different races in this 6,000 world universe. What I love about this novel is that it explores outerworldy perspective on the formation and conflict of race. Black, white, asian are different races but Delaney points out that if we were to encounter alien species in the future our species will be as one, the human race.
Sunday, May 13, 2007
America and the nessecity of blackness
After inspecting a group of rhododendrons in bloom, it is obvious that they are truly magnificent flowers that brighten up the day. Rooted next to a shrub of thistles, it is obvious that the thistles are ugly and obtrusive, with not nearly the same amount of color or smell as the rhododendrons. But what makes the rhododendron so beautiful? The fact that it itself is beautiful, or that it sits next to a less appealing specimen? Is the thistle truly ugly, or is it simply because it is overshadowed by the rhododendron’s grandeur?
It may seem that this has nothing to do with Derrick Bell’s “Space Traders” or Ellison’s “Invisible Man,” however this concept is deeply rooted in both. Both Ellison and Bell describe how African Americans are the foundation and victims of their discrimination. Bell and Ellison show that a country’s majority cannot be superior without making a minority inferior. Throughout history people have been persecuted as a scapegoat to adhere this label of inferiority. Hitler did it to Jews, and now in Derrick Bell’s “The Space Traders,” white Americans do it to the black Americans.
In “The Space Traders,” the whole of America is set to believe that it would be economically, socially, and holistically beneficial to deport all the African Americans. The whole of America felt, “as black people [were] marching stoically into the Space Traders’ ships” that black people were doing their duty to America by entering the “ancient sacrificial altars.” (Bell 347) Then Bell questions what Americans will have to do next to secure their superiority and “prosperity” when the black people are no longer the scapegoat. Bell implies that by giving into the trade for African Americans it leads way to other precedents, eventually trading away “Hispanics, Jews, Asians,” or anyone of “identifiable politics or religion or geographic location,” only to allow the dominance of the white Christian population which is presumably the heritage of the united states. (350) With the departure of black people, how will Americans be defined? This notion digs at the fact that blackness is essential for whiteness, which is precisely what Ellison depicts pragmatically in “Invisible Man.”
In Chapter 10 of Ellison’s “Invisible Man,” the main character finds himself mixing white paint but is stunned to find that white paint starts out black as coal. The liquid inside the paint can “was dead black” and after measuring ten “glistening black drops,” the paint suddenly becomes “as white as George Washington.” (Ellison 201) Ellison exemplifies the essentiality of blackness by using the metaphor of paint and the allusion to the founding father of America. Though being black has been persecuted from the foundation of our country, the black population is the foundation of our country. Lucious Brockaway is Ellison’s example of blackness founding America; he is the “only one who knew the location of all the water mains. He had been employed at the beginning, before any records were kept and actually functioned as an engineer though he drew a janitor’s pay.” (Ellison 211) Lucious is this machine behind the machine, he knows all the nuts and bolts and steers the white majority into oppression of the black minority. Lucious is an example of the black slavery that began since the beginning of the colonial revolution and the oppression that still occurs today.
Both Derrick Bell and Ellison emphasis the fact that black people have defined America because of their obvious minority. Bell and Ellison both point toward America’s necessity to divide the economics and politics of America through the color of skin or the difference of cultures. Both articles are an explanation of this existence of a colorline and it’s perverse necessity to the foundation of our nation.
Works Cited
Bell, Derrick. "The Space Traders." 1992.
Ellison, Ralph. "Invisible Man." 1952.
It may seem that this has nothing to do with Derrick Bell’s “Space Traders” or Ellison’s “Invisible Man,” however this concept is deeply rooted in both. Both Ellison and Bell describe how African Americans are the foundation and victims of their discrimination. Bell and Ellison show that a country’s majority cannot be superior without making a minority inferior. Throughout history people have been persecuted as a scapegoat to adhere this label of inferiority. Hitler did it to Jews, and now in Derrick Bell’s “The Space Traders,” white Americans do it to the black Americans.
In “The Space Traders,” the whole of America is set to believe that it would be economically, socially, and holistically beneficial to deport all the African Americans. The whole of America felt, “as black people [were] marching stoically into the Space Traders’ ships” that black people were doing their duty to America by entering the “ancient sacrificial altars.” (Bell 347) Then Bell questions what Americans will have to do next to secure their superiority and “prosperity” when the black people are no longer the scapegoat. Bell implies that by giving into the trade for African Americans it leads way to other precedents, eventually trading away “Hispanics, Jews, Asians,” or anyone of “identifiable politics or religion or geographic location,” only to allow the dominance of the white Christian population which is presumably the heritage of the united states. (350) With the departure of black people, how will Americans be defined? This notion digs at the fact that blackness is essential for whiteness, which is precisely what Ellison depicts pragmatically in “Invisible Man.”
In Chapter 10 of Ellison’s “Invisible Man,” the main character finds himself mixing white paint but is stunned to find that white paint starts out black as coal. The liquid inside the paint can “was dead black” and after measuring ten “glistening black drops,” the paint suddenly becomes “as white as George Washington.” (Ellison 201) Ellison exemplifies the essentiality of blackness by using the metaphor of paint and the allusion to the founding father of America. Though being black has been persecuted from the foundation of our country, the black population is the foundation of our country. Lucious Brockaway is Ellison’s example of blackness founding America; he is the “only one who knew the location of all the water mains. He had been employed at the beginning, before any records were kept and actually functioned as an engineer though he drew a janitor’s pay.” (Ellison 211) Lucious is this machine behind the machine, he knows all the nuts and bolts and steers the white majority into oppression of the black minority. Lucious is an example of the black slavery that began since the beginning of the colonial revolution and the oppression that still occurs today.
Both Derrick Bell and Ellison emphasis the fact that black people have defined America because of their obvious minority. Bell and Ellison both point toward America’s necessity to divide the economics and politics of America through the color of skin or the difference of cultures. Both articles are an explanation of this existence of a colorline and it’s perverse necessity to the foundation of our nation.
Works Cited
Bell, Derrick. "The Space Traders." 1992.
Ellison, Ralph. "Invisible Man." 1952.
Wednesday, May 2, 2007
Postcolonial Science Fiction Defined
Nalo Hopkinson’s definition of “postcolonial science fiction” in “Introduction” from So Long Been Dreaming: “Stories that take the meme of colonizing the natives and, from the experience of the colonizee, critique it, pervert it, fuck with it, with irony, with anger, with humour, and also, with love and respect for the genre of science fiction that makes it possible to think about new ways of doing things.”
This short story, “Deep End” by Nisi Shawl definitely falls under Nalo Hopinkson’s definition of a postcolonial slave science fiction narrative. The first paragraph depicts Wayna, “an upload of a criminal mind” aboard a vessel, the “Psyche Moth,” designated for prisoners enroute to a distant star. (Shawl 12) Wayne is the perspective of the story; she speaks as an upload of a criminal mind. And to her, she is the victim of the ship and its crew – which institute punishments that involve pain like “the lash of a whip.” (Shawl 13) She also felt victim to her captures and “distrusted Dr. Ops and everything about Psyche Moth.” (Shawl 13) The beginning of the story is mainly a postcolonial narrative but the story turns into much more.
Everything about this story radiates a post colonial slave narrative – from the setting of the slave ship being sent to a distant land presumably for hard labor, to the punishments of being whipped. But then, in the aura of “postcolonial science fiction” Shawl takes this regular story and distorts it to a more science fiction entity. The idea of minds being uploaded into a computer and then downloaded into a body presumes that the body is not their own. Shawl explores the idea of “passing” - the fusion of a black conciousness and a white physical appearance - with freedom. The only hope that Wayna can perceive, the only goal she can attain is to have a body that was hers, “no matter how different it looked from the one she had been born with. [No matter] how white.” (Shawl 17) And through her training she was given a body and that was “her body. She’d earned it,” as if she were given freedom from the slavery that the ships controller, Dr. Ops, had beset upon her. (Shawl 17) Instead of liberation from slavery, this novel depicts the liberation of the mind. Shawl shows that with a different kind of bondage comes a different kind of freedom, namely the freedom to own one’s body.
Another interesting junction from the normal postcolonial narrative that specifically makes this science fiction is the purpose of the slave ship. I’ve seen a lot of Star Trek episodes where evil Klingons or Ferengians are “spared” and sent to a prison planet were they do hard labor for the rest of their lives. Shawl instead uses the same idea, but instead the prisoners will mine genetic helixes. The prisoners themselves are “investments [for] protection [of] their precious genetic material,” or as Wayna puts it – “glorified mammies.” (Shawl 20) Wayna and the rest of the prisoners are doing hard time for whatever “crime” they committed, but instead of doing the harvesting for plantations owners, they are the ones being harvested. This is another way that Shawl puts an ironic twist on this postcolonial science fiction narrative.
The end result is something entirely different, something new. Shawl combines elements of postcolonial narratives and disfigures them and puts them back together to create a postcolonial science fiction. The beauty of this new narrative that it has the ability to tackle the same issues as a regular postcolonial narrative, but in this style Shawl is able to raise many more questions. Shawl introduces concepts of owning ones body and harvesting genetic material. More importantly Shawl attempts to dilute the colorline by emphasizing the fact that Wayna’s new body is white. Does having a “black mind” mean that she is still black? Does a “black mind” even exist? Much of Shawls story can be interpreted as a redefinition of blackness itself, how it existed in colonial days and how it exists today.
This short story, “Deep End” by Nisi Shawl definitely falls under Nalo Hopinkson’s definition of a postcolonial slave science fiction narrative. The first paragraph depicts Wayna, “an upload of a criminal mind” aboard a vessel, the “Psyche Moth,” designated for prisoners enroute to a distant star. (Shawl 12) Wayne is the perspective of the story; she speaks as an upload of a criminal mind. And to her, she is the victim of the ship and its crew – which institute punishments that involve pain like “the lash of a whip.” (Shawl 13) She also felt victim to her captures and “distrusted Dr. Ops and everything about Psyche Moth.” (Shawl 13) The beginning of the story is mainly a postcolonial narrative but the story turns into much more.
Everything about this story radiates a post colonial slave narrative – from the setting of the slave ship being sent to a distant land presumably for hard labor, to the punishments of being whipped. But then, in the aura of “postcolonial science fiction” Shawl takes this regular story and distorts it to a more science fiction entity. The idea of minds being uploaded into a computer and then downloaded into a body presumes that the body is not their own. Shawl explores the idea of “passing” - the fusion of a black conciousness and a white physical appearance - with freedom. The only hope that Wayna can perceive, the only goal she can attain is to have a body that was hers, “no matter how different it looked from the one she had been born with. [No matter] how white.” (Shawl 17) And through her training she was given a body and that was “her body. She’d earned it,” as if she were given freedom from the slavery that the ships controller, Dr. Ops, had beset upon her. (Shawl 17) Instead of liberation from slavery, this novel depicts the liberation of the mind. Shawl shows that with a different kind of bondage comes a different kind of freedom, namely the freedom to own one’s body.
Another interesting junction from the normal postcolonial narrative that specifically makes this science fiction is the purpose of the slave ship. I’ve seen a lot of Star Trek episodes where evil Klingons or Ferengians are “spared” and sent to a prison planet were they do hard labor for the rest of their lives. Shawl instead uses the same idea, but instead the prisoners will mine genetic helixes. The prisoners themselves are “investments [for] protection [of] their precious genetic material,” or as Wayna puts it – “glorified mammies.” (Shawl 20) Wayna and the rest of the prisoners are doing hard time for whatever “crime” they committed, but instead of doing the harvesting for plantations owners, they are the ones being harvested. This is another way that Shawl puts an ironic twist on this postcolonial science fiction narrative.
The end result is something entirely different, something new. Shawl combines elements of postcolonial narratives and disfigures them and puts them back together to create a postcolonial science fiction. The beauty of this new narrative that it has the ability to tackle the same issues as a regular postcolonial narrative, but in this style Shawl is able to raise many more questions. Shawl introduces concepts of owning ones body and harvesting genetic material. More importantly Shawl attempts to dilute the colorline by emphasizing the fact that Wayna’s new body is white. Does having a “black mind” mean that she is still black? Does a “black mind” even exist? Much of Shawls story can be interpreted as a redefinition of blackness itself, how it existed in colonial days and how it exists today.
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