A review by morgandhu
AfroSF: Science Fiction by African Writers, by Liam Kruger, Tendai Huchu, Ashley Jacobs, Tade Thompson, Uko Bendi Udo, Dave-Brendon de Burgh, Chinelo Onwualu, Rafeeat Aliyu, Nick Wood, Martin Stokes, Joan De La Haye, Mazi Nwonwu, Sarah Lotz, Clifton Gachagua, Sally Partridge, Cristy Zinn, Efe Tokunbo Okogu, Biram Mboob, Mandisi Nkomo, Sally-Ann Murray, Mia Arderne, Nnedi Okorafor, Ivor W. Hartmann
4.0
In his introduction to the anthology, editor Ivor Hartmann says: "SciFi is the only genre that enables African writers to envision a future from our African perspective. Moreover, it does this in a way that is not purely academic and so provides a vision that is readily understandable through a fictional context. The value of this envisioning for any third-world country, or in our case continent, cannot be overstated nor negated. If you can’t see and relay an understandable vision of the future, your future will be co-opted by someone else’s vision, one that will not necessarily have your best interests at heart. Thus, Science Fiction by African writers is of paramount importance to the development and future of our continent."
It's just as important for those in the first-world countries from whence the co-opting generally comes to read these African futures. To read stories set in futuristic metropolises named Lagos and Tshwane, with characters named Wangari Maathai and Julius Masemola. Stories that come from other histories and perspectives than their own, stories in which white people from Europe or North America are barely present if at all, and have no role to play in the imagined futures. I can only say thank you to Ivor Hartmann for collecting these stories and making them available.
It's just as important for those in the first-world countries from whence the co-opting generally comes to read these African futures. To read stories set in futuristic metropolises named Lagos and Tshwane, with characters named Wangari Maathai and Julius Masemola. Stories that come from other histories and perspectives than their own, stories in which white people from Europe or North America are barely present if at all, and have no role to play in the imagined futures. I can only say thank you to Ivor Hartmann for collecting these stories and making them available.