Lavender, Isiah
M 1 :50 PM
Park Hall 67
Police and Afrofuturism
This class will consider representations of law enforcement in black speculative fiction, where techno-powered cops make use of surveillance technologies to continue the violent oppression of America’s most vilified and vulnerable citizens in one strand. In another strand advanced technology aids officers in solving crimes and putting criminals where they belong. Consequently, we will grapple with sci-fi that explores the dangers of a militarized police force that are meant to protect and to serve the populace wherever it may be (starships, other worlds, or Earth). We will look at short stories, novels, and films in our examination of corruption, unrestrained police power, and brutality. Mystery, suspense, and the law procedural blended into science fiction packaging provides a veiled critique of the meaning of justice. We will consider the black power era and the black lives matter movement and everything in between through the lens of Afrofuturism.
Primary texts:
Steven Barnes, Streetlethal
Samuel R. Delany, We in Some Strange Powers Employ
Bill Campbell, Koontown Killing Kaper
N.K. Jemisin, The City We Became
Tochi Onyebuchi, Riot Baby
Sam Greenlee, The Spook Who Sat by the Door
John L. Williams, Sons of Darkness, Sons of Light
Percival Everett, The Trees
Micaiah Johnson, The Space Between Worlds
Various short stories by Octavia E. Butler, Nisi Shawl, Walter Mosley, and Violet Allen
Films:
The Last Angel of History
13th
See You Yesterday
Two Distant Strangers
Secondary Sources:
Angela J. Davis, editor, Policing the Black Man: Arrest, Prosecution, and Imprisonment
James Forman Jr., Locking Up Our Own: Crime and Punishment in Black America
Michelle Alexander, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness
Elizabeth Hinton, America on Fire: The Untold History Police Violence and Black Rebellion since the 1960s