Science: Arab and African Science Fiction: (re)claiming the past, reflecting on the present, and envisioning the future
By Desiree Custers
Introduction
Though fervent readers of science fiction (SF) will already be familiar with SF from the Arab and African regions, it remains underexplored for many readers and writers of the world. This despite the fact that Arab and African SF works having been published since the start of the previous century. And though the two regions are often artificially divided in the social and political sciences as well as literary studies, they have much in common, similarities which are translated in their SF. Using broad strokes, this essay will show that Arab and African SF literature has three common functions: it envisions the future, reclaims the past, and reflects on the present.
SF as a genre
Science fiction (SF), I believe, is one of the most effective literary ...