[Sfts-faculty] Oxford Handbook on Afrofuturism

[andré carrington]

CALL FOR PAPERS
THE OXFORD HANDBOOK OF AFROFUTURISM
The co-editors of The Oxford Handbook of Afrofuturism, De Witt Douglas
Kilgore and Lisa Yaszek, invite proposals for original chapters on
Afrofuturism as a dynamic and evolving mode of Black speculative expression.
This handbook will serve as a key reference for scholars and students
working across literature, film, music, visual art, performance, comics,
gaming, and related media. We seek essays that examine both foundational
works in Afrofuturist history and contemporary projects that imagine
futures beyond the social, political, and technological limits of the
present.
Afrofuturism brings African American and Afro-Diasporic histories,
cultures, and experiences into speculative genres such as science fiction,
fantasy, futurism, and the fantastic. These works rethink the past,
critique the present, and envision more just and expansive futures.
Contributors are encouraged to explore how Afrofuturist artists engage
questions of race, technology, science, ecology, embodiment, power, and
joy, as well as Afrofuturism’s influence on global culture.
We welcome a wide range of scholarly approaches, including literary and
cultural analysis, media studies, art history, music studies, science and
technology studies, and interdisciplinary methods. Essays may focus on
individual creators or works, specific media or genres, key themes, or
Afrofuturism’s connections to other Black speculative traditions.
SUBMISSIONS
Please submit the following materials:
A 300-word abstract
A working bibliography
A brief CV
Submission deadline for abstracts: May 15, 2026.
Please submit all materials as MS Word attachments by email to both editors:
De Witt Douglas Kilgore
Email: dkilgore at iu.edu
Lisa Yaszek
Email: lisa.yaszek at gatech.edu
Accepted chapters will be no longer than 5,000 words.
Authors whose essays are accepted for inclusion will be expected to submit
final chapters by March 15, 2027.
Informal inquiries about topic fit or scope are welcome.
POSSIBLE TOPICS INCLUDE, BUT ARE NOT LIMITED TO
Ancestral knowledge and intelligence
Science, engineering, and technology
Black joy
Afropessimism
Futurity and utopia
Energy and environmental futures
Extraterrestrials and artificial intelligence
Comics and graphic novels
Film and television
Music and sound cultures
Gaming and interactive media
Drag, fashion, and performance
Modernism
The Anthropocene
Other Black speculative traditions
Afrofuturism’s influence on contemporary art and culture

-- 
andré m. carrington

Associate Professor of English
University of California, Riverside
Director, Designated Emphasis in Speculative Fictions & Cultures of Science
<https://sfts.ucr.edu/directors-report>
--
Editor, *The Black Fantastic*
<https://www.loa.org/books/the-black-fantastic-20-afrofuturist-stories-paperback/>,
Library
of America, 2025
*Audiofuturism: Science Fiction Radio Drama & the Black Fantastic
Imagination* <https://fordhampress.com/audiofuturism-hb-9781531513320.html>
*Speculative Blackness: The Future of Race in Science Fiction*
<https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/speculative-blackness>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://lists.ucr.edu/pipermail/sfts-faculty/attachments/20260212/04bec0ff/attachment.htm>