Fictions of Land and Flesh : Blackness, Indigeneity, Speculation

In__Fictions of Land and Flesh__Mark Rifkin explores the impasses that arise in seeking to connect Black and Indigenous movements, turning to speculative fiction to understand those difficulties and envision productive ways of addressing them. Against efforts to subsume varied forms of resistance into a single framework in the name of solidarity, Rifkin argues that Black and Indigenous political struggles are oriented in distinct ways, following their own lines of development and contestation. Rifkin suggests how movement between the two can be approached as something of a speculative leap in which the terms and dynamics of one are disoriented in the encounter with the other. Futurist fiction provides a compelling site for exploring such disjunctions. Through analyses of works by Octavia Butler, Walter Mosley, Nalo Hopkinson, Melissa Tantaquidgeon Zobel, and others, the book illustrates how ideas about fungibility, fugitivity, carcerality, marronage, sovereignty, placemaking, and governance shape the ways Black and Indigenous intellectuals narrate the past, present, and future. In turning to speculative fiction, Rifkin illustrates how speculation as a process provides conceptual and ethical resources for recognizing difference while engaging across it. « In Fictions of Land and Flesh Mark Rifkin explores the impasses that arise in seeking to connect Black and Indigenous movements, turning to speculative fiction to understand those difficulties and envision productive ways of addressing them. Against efforts to subsume varied forms of resistance into a single framework in the name of solidarity, Rifkin argues that Black and Indigenous political struggles are oriented in distinct ways, following their own lines of development and contestation. Rifkin suggests how movement between the two can be approached as something of a speculative leap in which the terms and dynamics of one are disoriented in the encounter with the other. Futurist fiction provides a compelling site for exploring such disjunctions. Through analyses of works by Octavia Butler, Walter Mosley, Nalo Hopkinson, Melissa Tantaquidgeon Zobel, and others, the book illustrates how ideas about fungibility, fugitivity, carcerality, marronage, sovereignty, placemaking, and governance shape the ways Black and Indigenous intellectuals narrate the past, present, and future. In turning to speculative fiction, Rifkin illustrates how speculation as a process provides conceptual and ethical resources for recognizing difference while engaging across it. »--Quatrième de couverture Cover 1 Contents 6 Acknowledgments 8 Introduction 10 1. On the Impasse 24 2. Fungible Becoming 82 3. Carceral Space and Fugitive Motion 126 4. The Maroon Matrix 177 Coda: Diplomacy in the Undercommons 229 Notes 242 Bibliography 296 Index 322 A 322 B 322 C 323 D 324 E 325 F 325 G 325 H 326 I 326 J 327 K 327 L 327 M 327 N 328 O 328 P 328 Q 329 R 329 S 330 T 331 U 331 V 332 W 332 X 332 Y 332 Z 332 Mark Rifkin turns to black and indigenous speculative fiction to show how it offers a site to better understand black and indigenous political movements' differing orientations in ways that can foster forms of mutual engagement and cooperation without subsuming them into a single political framework in the name of solidarity. On The Impasse -- Fungible Becoming -- Carceral Space And Fugitive Motion -- The Maroon Matrix -- Coda: Diplomacy In The Undercommons. Mark Rifkin. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Electronic Reproduction. Durham, N.c. Available Via World Wide Web.