Is Africa ready for science fiction?
Posted by: Rich Watson on August 17, 2009 at 12:21 am
“…In my observation, in Africa, science fiction is still perceived as not being real literature. It is not serious writing… African audiences don’t feel that science fiction is really concerned with what’s real, what’s present. It’s not tangible. It’s sport. Child’s play. I can see how science fiction can be foreign to many Africans. Technology tends to play a different role on the continent. There is a weird divide and connection between the technologically advanced and the ancient. For example: People will have cells phones in rural villages yet have no plumbing or electricity or one will opt to buy a laptop instead of a desktop computer because a laptop has its own power supply, most useful for when ‘NEPA takes the lights‘”.
Sharon E. Dreyer August 17th, 2009
I’ve seen this topic a lot since the release of District 9. While I live on a different continent, I don’t understand why Africa wouldn’t be ready for science fiction. There are some classic novels and movies that didn’t cost much to produce and if people can read, wouldn’t they enjoy science fiction? Thanks for sharing this article; it highlights the differences between our perspectives.
Check out my first and recently released novel, Long Journey to Rneadal. This exciting story is a romantic action adventure in space
Fred August 23rd, 2009
@Sharon E. Dreyer
The following excerpt from the above article answers your question:
“I don t think we’re ready in the primary sense of the word,” [Tchidi] Chikere said. “We can hide it in other categories like magic realism, allegory, etc, but we’re not ready for pure science fiction.”
“Science fiction films from the West are failures here. Even Star Wars!” he said. “The themes aren’t taken seriously. Science fiction will come here when it is relevant to the people of Africa. Right now, Africans are bothered about issues of bad leadership, the food crisis in East Africa, refugees in the Congo, militants here in Nigeria. Africans are bothered about food, roads, electricity, water wars, famine, etc, not spacecrafts and spaceships. Only stories that explore these everyday realities are considered relevant to us for now.”
Thus, to succeed in Africa, sci-fi must adapt to the continent’s diversity of cultures and issues instead of the reverse.
