What is Afrofuturism? There are some dictionary definition answers I could give, but they wouldn’t fully encompass the idea and there is still disagreement about what exactly defines it. The genre was born decades ago but is still developing and even some people who are categorized into it do not want to be. Also, I’m not going to try to define all of it here. Since our topic is Black Panther, and this post is coming to you in anticipation of the soon-to-be-released Black Panther 2, let’s define it as one thing: Afrofuturism is Wakanda.
That not quite enough for you? Okay, I’ll explain a little further. Wakanda in both the comics and films represents an advanced African society untouched by Western colonialism. It is one of the purest forms of speculative fiction because it speculates what Africa, or parts of it, would be like if it had not suffered the cultural and economic destruction that resulted from the slave trade and colonial rule. Wakanda is an Africa that has reached its full potential. It is not just an alternate future, as implied in the word Afrofuturism, but an alternate past and present as well. With this in mind, understand that Afrofuturism is most often sci-fi, but not always, and can easily be applied to fantasy, historical fiction, and feminist literature. Here are some of the books you could read if you want to know more about where Wakanda comes from and where it might be going.
The Gilded Ones
“The Gilded Ones” blends common tropes of finding your place in the world via a sorting ceremony (Divergent, Harry Potter, etc.) with, you guessed it, Afrofuturism. It’s a high fantasy novel with commentary on racism, xenophobia, and women’s place in the world. Don’t think any of that makes it boring though, there’s still plenty of action and adventure to be found here.
Binti
Told in the brisk format of a novella, Binti is the story of a girl leaving home to go to the greatest university in the galaxy. The trip is not without danger and Binti has to prove herself before she can even get to the prestigious institution. The book itself has won both of the biggest awards in science fiction: The Hugo and Nebula awards.
Beasts Made of Night
Taj is a sin-eater who can consume the guilt of others and then work with mages to have that guilt turned into a real deadly creature, but things take an unexpected and deadly turn that upends Taj’s life. This one is dense and may not be for everyone, but if you’re into extensive worldbuilding and a lot of time dedicated to poetic and descriptive language then you will likely find this a rewarding read.
The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm
Set in far future Zimbabwe, “The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm” tells the story of the country’s strangest and most effective investigators who have been hired to find a general’s three missing children. This one is more of an adventure, and a little less serious than some of the other books on this list, if you can’t tell by the cover, and uses Afrofuturism more as a setting than a vehicle for social commentary.
Zoo City
“Zoo City” takes place in a gritty fantasy version of South Africa where those who have committed grave sins are burdened with and magically connected to animals that represent their guilt. Zinzi is, in many ways, the epitome of those hard-boiled independent detectives of old and she takes on a case that should be simple, but might actually be too much for her to handle and could cost her everything.
Children of Blood and Bone
This one is a huge hit and leans hard into Yoruba and Nigerian mythology. Sister and Brother Zélie and Tzain want to bring back magic to the world, but there are powerful forces that stand in their way, and what will the consequences be if they succeed? Read it before it gets turned into a movie! (Trust me it will be turned into a movie.)
The Prey of Gods
There’s a lot going on in this one. Not only is it the far future with robotic servants and genetic engineering, but there is also a vengeful demigoddess and an AI uprising to worry about. A diverse collection of misfits, who all have their own personal problems, must come together to survive in and possibly save this futuristic world.
Given
This one has more of a romantic flair than the others on the list. Yirba is a princess who has to go to a magical school in order to save her father. There, she meets a boy who can shift into a dragon and claims she is destined to marry him. Yirba doesn’t take well to that at all and well… you’ll just have to see where it goes from there.
