• TSG_Asmodeus (he, him)@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    So looking up the Blake story it’s not really sci-fi at all?

    You should edit the wikipedia entry then, because it disagrees with you.

    "Samuel R. Delany described it as "about as close to an SF-style alternate history novel as you can get.

    Further, while it incorporates elements of the fugitive slave narrative, Blake’s narrator is also a scientist, whose focus on data collection and research stand in repudiation of the racial science of the day.[10] In fact, this reflects one of Delany’s major themes: that Africa and its contributions to science and math were foundational to the Western world.[12]"

    • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      Considering we’re talking about the era of the belief in Drapetomania, I’d say a slave revolt followed by an attempt by black people to take over Cuba would be considered sci-fi by a lot of readers.

      Edit: Also, sci-fi wasn’t really a thing in 1862.

      • TSG_Asmodeus (he, him)@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        No sci-fi wasn’t an official thing, yet the title of this is ‘were developing the Afro-Futurism/Black Sci-Fi genre…’

        I’d say a fictional story about slaves successfully rebelling and taking over a country, narrated by a scientist, who does science things, counts.

        It is ridiculous how much hair-splitting is done when it’s Black culture, and I’m quite embarrassed by the attempt to claim entire wikipedia sections are ‘wrong’ like this.

        (Not saying you’re saying that, I understand we’re on the same page.)