Afrofuturism in African Literature
Edited Volume — Call for Contributions

Overview:
Africa has often been portrayed negatively due to its colonial history and the challenges—including poverty, disease, political instability, marginalization of women and other minority groups, and violent conflicts—that continue to bedevil the continent. Such representations, however, have frequently relied on reductive narratives that flatten Africa into a monolithic space of lack and crisis, obscuring its rich resources, profound histories, vibrant cultures, intellectual vitality, and lingering desire for a better life. Although it has not been sufficiently acknowledged, this lingering desire has, for centuries, been the engine behind the triumphs of African peoples in the face of some of the insurmountable challenges they have had to confront.

It is within this context of misrepresentation and epistemic limitation that Afrofuturism emerges, not merely as a counter-image but as a critical and creative framework through which African writers reimagine history, agency, and futurity. Rather than simply reversing negative portrayals, Afrofuturism interrogates the ideological foundations of these portrayals while simultaneously envisioning alternative futures grounded in African knowledge systems, endurance, and possibility. Afrofuturism reimagines Africa’s future in ways that celebrate hope, empowerment, technological advancement, and the resilience of its people, thereby envisioning multifaceted futures where Black identity is shaped by advancement, hope, and freedom.

This volume seeks to intervene in existing scholarship on Afrofuturism by centering African literary production rather than privileging diasporic or speculative traditions that have often dominated critical discourse. Coined by Mark Dery and later theorized by scholars such as Kodwo Eshun, Afrofuturism has been used to describe artistic and intellectual practices that merge Black history, technology, speculative imagination, and alternative futures. More recently, Nnedi Okorafor has advanced the concept of Africanfuturism to distinguish Africa-centered speculative work from diasporic traditions, emphasizing local cultures, mythologies, and geopolitical realities. While this distinction is productive, this collection adopts Afrofuturism as a broader and more encompassing framework—one that allows African texts to engage simultaneously with indigenous epistemologies, global modernity, historical recovery, and speculative futurity. In doing so, the volume complicates prevailing assumptions about Afrofuturism as primarily technological or Western-facing, instead demonstrating how African writers deploy futurist aesthetics to interrogate postcolonial conditions, reimagine governance, recover suppressed knowledge, and articulate grounded visions of collective futures.

Themes of Focus:

We are particularly interested in papers that address, but are not limited to, the following key themes:

1. Looking Back to Move Forward: Legacy and Identity Beyond Subjugation

Under this theme, we seek papers that respond to the following questions: 

.  How do literary texts serve as instruments for reimagining Africa's future, with a specific focus on themes of empowerment and resilience?

.  How do literary presentations challenge traditional portrayals of Africa, offering visions of the continent where issues such as hunger, disease, and illiteracy are decimated?

. How do creative works explore the fall of corrupt or oppressive regimes, or where political tyranny, misgovernance, and political conflicts are replaced by democracy, meritocracy, and fairness?

. How does literature show that tribalism can be banished, and citizens, through collective action, can unite to reclaim their freedom? 
. How does memory bridge time and space, allowing individuals and communities to navigate their own liberation and imagine alternative futures?

. How do rectifying, reclaiming and retelling history—whether through oral or textual means—enable a better self-identity that empowers the mission for total liberation of African states, cultures, or societies?

. How does memory help Africans to (re)member their existence across different time periods, and what is the role of memory in rejecting imposed identities and engaging in processes of de-identification and re-identification.?

2.New Identity, Technology, Potential, Entrepreneurship

Under this theme, we seek papers that: 
. focus on the creation of new identities grounded in hope, unity, and a reimagined future. How do literary works depict the evolution of African identities in relation to the continent's complex past and dynamic present?

. discuss the conceptualization of Africa as a place to which one can migrate to, rather than merely escape from, and the implications of this vision for the future of African identity and global engagement.

. show that Africans are smart, entrepreneurial, and creative global citizens who possess the ability to shape a hopeful future for their continent.

. emphasize the potential of industrialization or technology to shape a prosperous and just future; how African authors use industrial or technological innovation as a metaphor for a better future with advanced infrastructure, more inclusive economic systems, better healthcare, etc.

. convey discourse on the role of digital technologies and social media in mobilizing citizens for political and social change.

3. Demarginalization of Women and Minorities

For this theme, we welcome papers that:

. explore the demarginalization of African women, focusing on female characters who challenge patriarchal structures to achieve social, political, and other feats that are deemed unattainable for women.

. discuss narratives that normalize, other than tokenize, female agency and resilience in causing revolutionary change.

. imagine a future where such gender and sexual minorities as homosexuals can be accepted and allowed to make contributions to their communities, nations, and/or the continent.

4. Revival of Indigenous Traditions

Aligned with this theme, we are interested in papers that:

. show how Afrofuturistic narratives engage with indigenous spiritualities, practices, and cultural heritage as tools for resilience and self-definition.

.  explore how African societies are reimagining indigenous traditions and cultural practices to create authentic solutions for contemporary challenges.

Submission Guidelines:

• Abstracts should be no more than 300 words and must clearly outline the central argument, theoretical framework, and specific works or texts being analyzed.
• Submissions should be in English, preferably American.
• Full papers (approximately 5,000-7,000 words should be formatted according to the Chicago format (use author, title, and page number for in-text citations; and a bibliography).
• Please submit an abstract and a short biography (100-150 words) of the author to [Dr. Paul Mukundi via email: paul.mukundi@morgan.edu  by March 15, 2026.

Tentative Schedule:

Deadline for Abstracts: March 15, 2026

Notification of Acceptance: April 3, 2026

Final Paper Submission: July 15, 2026

Peer review feedback: November 15, 2026

Revised chapters due: December 20, 2026

Expected publication: Tentative Spring 2028