[ecrea] cfp: PARADOXA's "Africa SF" special issue

PARADOXA is seeking submissions of previously unpublished essays on 
subjects related to

AFRICAN SCIENCE FICTION.

In 2010, PUMZI, the first Kenyan sf movie, won the best short film award 
at the Cannes Independent Film Festival, and the South African 
co-production DISTRICT 9 was nominated for multiple Oscars. In 2011, 
Nigerian-American Nnedi Okorafor became the first author of African 
extraction to win the World Fantasy Award, with WHO FEARS DEATH, and 
South African Lauren Beukes became the first person from Africa to win 
the Arthur C. Clarke Award, with ZOO CITY.

Recent journal issues (AFRICAN IDENTITIES 7.2, SCIENCE FICTION STUDIES 
102, SOCIAL TEXT 20.2), edited collections (Barr's AFRO-FUTURE FEMALES) 
and monographs (Lavender's RACE IN AMERICAN SCIENCE FICTION, Nama's 
BLACK SPACE and SUPER BLACK) have been devoted to afrofuturism, 
African-American sf and African Americans in sf. In addition, there have 
been numerous publications on the relationships among sf, imperialism, 
colonialism, postcolonialism, globalization and Empire (cf. SCIENCE 
FICTION STUDIES 118, Hoagland/Sarwal's SCIENCE FICTION, IMPERIALISM AND 
THE THIRD WORLD, Kerslake's SCIENCE FICTION AND EMPIRE, Langer's 
POSTCOLONIALISM AND SCIENCE FICTION, Raja/Ellis/Nandi's THE POSTNATIONAL 
FANTASY, Rieder's COLONIALISM AND THE EMERGENCE OF SCIENCE FICTION).

Yet sf from Africa, and the Africa(s) in sf, remain relatively 
unexplored. In order to address this lacuna, the "Africa SF" issue of 
PARADOXA is interested in essays that address:

1. Critical work on sf by Africans, including such films as SANKOFA 
(Gerima 1993), LES SAIGNANTES (Bekolo 2005), AFRICA PARADIS (Amoussou 
2006), DISTRICT 9 (Blomkamp 2009), PUMZI (Kahiu 2009), and KAJOLA 
(Akinmolayan 2010), and such novels as Mohammed Dib's WHO REMEMBERS THE 
SEA (1962), Sony Labou Tansi's LIFE AND A HALF (1977), Kojo Laing's 
WOMAN OF THE AEROPLANES (1988), MAJOR GENTL AND THE ACHIMOTA WARS (1992) 
and BIG BISHOP ROKO AND THE ALTAR GANGSTERS (2006), Ngu~gi~ wa 
Thiong'o's WIZARD OF THE CROW (2006), Lauren Beukes' MOXYLAND (2008) and 
ZOO CITY (2010), and Ahmed Khaled Towfik's UTOPIA (2008), and s. Can 
such novels as Ousmane Sembene's THE LAST OF THE EMPIRE  (1981) and 
Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani's I DO NOT COME TO YOU BY CHANCE (2009) be 
productively read as sf? Is there African sf produced in other media?

2. Critical work on Afrodiasporic authors, filmmakers, musicians and 
artists, especially as they address Africa, imperialism, colonialism, 
postcolonialism, globalization, Empire, and/or diaspora, such as Steven 
Barnes, Octavia Butler, Copperwire, Samuel R. Delany, Tananarive Due, 
Minister Faust, Andrea Hairston, Pauline Hopkins, Nalo Hopkinson, T. 
Shirby Hodge, Anthony Joseph, LaBelle, Nnedi Okorafor, Outkast, 
Parliament-Funkadelic, Charles Saunders, George S Schuyler, Nishi Shawl, 
Sun Ra, and John A. Williams.

3. Critical work on the representation of Africa in sf by non-African 
authors, such as JG Ballard, VF Calverton, George Alec Effinger, Jon 
Courtenay Grimwood, Theodor Hertzka, Julian Huxley, AM Lightner, Ian 
MacDonald, Mike Resnick, Mack Reynolds, Jules Verne, as well as in 
comics (e.g., Marvel's Black Panther, the British-authored Nigerian 
Powerman) and other media.

Prospective contributors may contact the guest editor with questions 
about a particular topic's appropriateness. Double-spaced submissions 
should be between 6,000 and 10,000 words in length, not including "Works 
Cited," and prepared in accordance with MLA style. Please forward 
manuscripts as MS Word attachments. Within the email itself include 
name, affiliation, 250-word abstract, and any other relevant 
information. Submissions should be directed to Paradoxa's guest editor, 
Mark Bould at (mark.bould /at/ gmail.com) <mailto:(mark.bould /at/ gmail.com)> by 
March 1, 2013. For more information about PARADOXA see www.paradoxa.com 
<http://www.paradoxa.com>.