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Title An Afrofuturist Reading of Rivers Solomon’s The Deep and An Unkindness of Ghosts

Author(s) Syeda Rija Rizvi

Abstract This study investigates Afrofuturism's foundational principles through an analysis of Rivers Solomon's novels The Deep and An Unkindness of Ghosts. The research employs two key conceptual models: from Isiah Lavender's Afrofuturism Rising: The Literary Prehistory of a Movement, which presents a vision of an emancipated African future, highlighting concepts like Pocketed Universe, Black Networked Consciousness, and Trans-Historical Feedback Loop. The second model, drawn from Kodwo Eshun’s essay "Further Considerations on Afrofuturism," critiques Afrofuturism's conventional historical and political frameworks, proposing a more complex and dynamic understanding of its roots. By creating a nexus of these models, they were applied to Solomon's works in order to examine how they subvert dominant narratives of Black empowerment and futurity. The research centers around three main questions: the reasons behind the subversion of an emancipated African future, whether the novels offer a pessimistic or optimistic outlook, and how traces of colonization and slavery persist within African futures. Through the analysis, it becomes evident that Solomon's novels resist the optimism typically associated with Afrofuturism, instead illustrating the enduring impact of oppression as presented by Afropessimism. The novels demonstrate that, whether centuries after the transatlantic slave trade or within the confines of a dystopian future, the effects of colonization and slavery continue to shape the lives of African-descended peoples, suggesting that the dream of liberation remains largely unfulfilled.

Type Thesis/Dissertation

Faculty Languages

Department English

Language English

Publication Date 2024-10-22

Subject English Literature

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