Postcolonial Speculative FictionMain MenuIntroduction to the ProjectCourse TextsOther Course MediaAuthor ResourcesThis page will provide links to authors' websites and other information, such as interviews.Blogs by Dawn HicksBlogs by Matthew HicksBlogs by Kiisha HilliardBlogs by Mary LaffidyBlogs by Chelsea LarymoreRhonda Knight6e1aac8b66b350de4366c4aa7ff320a7de3beb6a
Hybridity
12019-02-19T01:42:26-08:00Rhonda Knight6e1aac8b66b350de4366c4aa7ff320a7de3beb6a105812plain2019-02-19T01:48:05-08:00Rhonda Knight6e1aac8b66b350de4366c4aa7ff320a7de3beb6aNew forms (language, food, dress, art, etc.) that arise from cross-cultural exchange usually between the colonizer and the colonized. Hybridity can also be political or religious. It is not necessarily a peaceful mixture, for it can be contentious and disruptive in its experience. See this website.
This page is referenced by:
1media/russia-112445_1280.jpgmedia/Eng410.png#2133692019-02-13T19:33:15-08:00Introduction to the Project56image_header8697472019-05-08T01:43:28-07:00
Pictured above: The class, each of us holding his or her favorite book from the syllabus.
The main content of this Scalar book is the blogs of students participating in Eng410: Postcolonial Speculative Fiction at Coker College. This course is divided into four sections:
Introduction--a look at some basic texts that set up postcolonial issues (othering, hybridity, mimicry and types of colonialism) and speculative fiction (Afrofuturism, worldbuilding and asking "what if?").
Petrofiction--a unit that examines petroculture (gas and oil culture) in relation to speculative fiction narratives concerning oil companies' economic imperialism and environmental destruction. Other texts reflect the scarcity of fuel in developing countries and the ways that scarcity influences their transportation, their economies and their ecology. Because petrofiction is a particular focus because of an article that a student and I are writing, many of these blogs focus on the relationship between the West's gas and oil culture and the ways that Western companies' economic dominance are played out in African nations and the Caribbean.
Other Worlds--a unit that focuses on world-building in postcolonial speculative fiction. Texts demonstrate the ways that authors can interrogate colonial histories and the modern world by placing them in an "elsewhere." Most of these texts ground their new worlds in one that reflects West African or Caribbean cultures that were almost destroyed by slavery and racism.
Monsters--a unit that explores the ways the metaphors of monsters play out in texts about colonialism, identity, hybridity and slavery.
Steampunk--a unit that uses alternate histories to understand colonial encounters and imagine narratives of empowerment of the colonized, the dispossessed and people of the African diaspora.
Petrocultures
In our investigation of Petrofiction, we were lucky to have a visiting exhibit by Kathleen Thum, "OilWorks" in Coker's Cecelia Coker Bell Gallery. Thum's art "aims to disrupt and interfere with our expectations of how one experiences oil in our western world." One class was held in the gallery, where we discussed Nnedi Okorafor's Lagoon among Thum's art.
Themes
Beyond the expressly colonial and petrocultural themes discussed above. The students tracked these broad themes as well.
Hybridity
Hair
Echoes of Slavery and Jim Crow
Spiders and Storytelling
Water and Water Deities
Language
How to Use This Website
Follow the Contents below to learn about the course. Use the Table of Contents button (top left) to follow the writing of individual students or writing by theme (coming soon).
