#books set in nigeria | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

specialagentartemis · 11 months

Text

Black Women writing SFF

The post about Octavia Butler also made me think about the injustice we do both Butler, SFF readers, and Black women SFF writers by holding her up as the one Black Woman Writing Sci-Fi. She occupies an important place in the genre, for her creativity, the beauty and impact of her writing, and her prolific work... but she's still just one writer, and no one writer works for everybody.

So whether you liked Octavia Butler's books or didn't, here are some of the (many!!! this list is just the authors I've read and liked, or been recommended and been wanting to read) other Black women writing speculative fiction aimed at adults, who might be writing something within your interest:

N. K. Jemisin - a prolific powerhouse of modern sff. Will probably have something you'll like. Won three Hugo awards in a row for her Broken Earth trilogy. I’ve only read her book of short stories, How Long ‘Til Black Future Month? and it is absolutely story after story of bangers. Creative, chilling, beautifully written, make you think. They’re so good and I highly recommend the collection. Several of her novels have spun out of premises she first explored through these short stories, most recently “The City Born Great” giving rise to her novel The City We Became. Leans more fantasy than sci-fi, but has a lot of both, in various permutations.

Nisi Shawl - EDIT: I have been informed that Nisi Shawl identifies as genderfluid, not as a woman. They primarily write short stories that lean literary. Their one novel that I’ve read, Everfair, is an alternate-history 19th century that asks, what if the Congo had fought off European colonization and became a free and independent African state? Told in vignettes spanning decades of political organization, political movements, war tactics, and social development, among an ensemble of local African people, Black Americans coming to the new country, white and mixed-race Brits, and Chinese immigrants who came as British laborers.

Nnedi Okorafor - American-Nigerian writer of Africanfuturism, sci-fi stories emphasizing life in present, future, and alternate-magical Africa. She has range! From Binti, a trilogy of novellas about a teenage girl in Namibia encountering aliens and balancing her newfound connection to space with expectations of her family; to Akata Witch, a middle-grade series about a Nigerian-American girl moving to Nigeria and learning to use magic powers she didn’t know she had; to Who Fears Death, a brutal depiction of magical-realism in a futuristic, post-war Sudan; to short stories like "Africanfuturism 419", about that poor Nigerian prince who’s desperately sending out those emails looking for help (but with a sci-fi twist), and "Mother of Invention" about a smart house taking care of its human and her baby… she’s done a little bit of everything, but always emphasizes the future, the science, and the magic of (usually western) Africa.

Karen Lord - an Afro-Caribbean author. I actually didn’t particularly like the one novel by her I’ve read, The Best of All Possible Worlds, but Martha Wells did, so. Lord has more novels set in this world—a Star Trek-esque multicultural, multispecies spacefuture set on a planet that has welcomed immigrants and refugees for a long time, and become a vibrant multicultural planet. I find her stories rooted in near-future Caribbean socio-climatic concerns like "Haven" and "Cities of the Sun" and her folktale-fantasy style Redemption in Indigo more compelling. And more short stories here.

Bethany C. Morrow - only has one novella (short novel?) for adults, Mem, but it was creative and fascinating and good and I’d be remiss not to shout it out. In an alternate-history 1920s Toronto, scientists have discovered how to extract specific memories from a person—but then those memories are embodied as physical, cloned manifestations of the person at the moment the memory was made. The main character is one such “Mem,” struggling to determine who she is if she was created from and defined by one single traumatic memory that her original-self wanted to remove. It’s mostly quiet, contemplative, and very interesting. (Morrow has some YA novels too. I read one of them and thought it was okay.)

Rebecca Roanhorse - Afro-Indigenous, Black and "Spanish Indian" and married into Diné (Navajo). I’ve read her ongoing post-apocalyptic fantasy series starting with Trail of Lightning, and am liking it a lot; after a climate catastrophe, the spirits and magic of the Diné awakened to protect Dinetah (the Navajo Nation) from the onslaught; and now magic and monsters are part of life in this fundamentally changed world. Coyote is there and he is only sometimes helpful. She also has a more traditional second-world epic high fantasy, Black Sun, an elaborate fantasy world with quests and prophecies and seafaring adventure that draws inspiration from Indigenous cultures of the US and Mexico rather than Europe. She also has bitingly satirical and very incisive short stories like “Welcome to Your Authentic Indian Experience” about virtual reality and cultural tourism, and the fantasy-horror "Harvest."

Micaiah Johnson - her multiverse-hopping novel The Space Between Worlds plays with alternate universes and alternate selves in a continuously creative and interesting way! The setup doesn’t take the easy premise that one universe is our own recognizable one that opens up onto strange alternate universes—even the main character’s home universe is wildly different in speculative ways, with the MC coming from a Mad Max-esque desert community abandoned to the elements, while working for the universe-travel company within the climate-controlled walled city where the rich and well-connected live and work. Also, it’s unabashedly gay.

And if you like audiobooks and audio fiction (I listened to The Space Between Worlds as an audiobook, it’s good), then Jordan Cobb is someone you should check out. She does sci-fi/horror/thriller audio drama. Her works include Janus Descending, a lyrical and eerie sci-fi horror about a small research expedition to a distant planet and how it went so, so wrong; and Descendants, the sequel about its aftermath. She also has Primordial Deep, about a research expedition to the deep undersea, to investigate the apparent re-emergence of a lot of extinct prehistoric sea creatures. She’s a writer/producer I like, and always follow her new releases. Her detailed prose, minimal casts (especially in Janus Descending), good audio quality, and full-series supercuts make these welcoming to audiobook fans.

Nalo Hopkinson - a writer who should be considered nearly as foundational as Octavia Butler, honestly. A novelist and short story writer with a wide variety of sci-fi, dystopian futures, fairy-tale horror, gods and epics, and space Carnival, drawing heavily from her Caribbean experiences and aesthetics.

Tananarive Due - fantastical/horror. Immortals, vampires, curses, altered reality, unnerving mystery. Also has written a lot of books.

Andrea Hairston - creative and otherworldly, weird and bisexual, with mindscapes and magic and aliens.

Helen Oyeyemi - I haven’t read her work but she comes highly recommended by a friend. A novelist and short story writer, most of her work leans fairytale fantastical-horror. What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours is a collection of short fiction and recc’ed to me as her best work. White is for Witching is a well-regarded haunted house novel.

Ashia Monet - indie author, writer of The Black Veins, pitched as “the no-love-interest, found family adventure you’ve been searching for.” Magic road trip! Possibly YA? I’m not positive.

This also doesn’t include Black non-binary sff authors I’ve read and liked like An Owomoyela, C. L. Polk, and Rivers Solomon. And this is specifically about adult sff books, so I didn’t include Black women YA sff authors like Kalynn Bayron, Tomi Adeyemi, Tracy Deonn, Justina Ireland, or Alechia Dow, though they’re writing fantasy and sci-fi in the YA world too.

And a lot of short stories are out there in the online magazine world, where so many up and coming authors get their start, and established ones explore offbeat and new ideas. Pick up an issue (or a subscription!) of FIYAH magazine for the most current Black speculative writing.

#books #book recs #science fiction

541 notes · View notes

palefoxwerewolf · 2 years

Text

The way how some people are just not aware of what the British Monarchy did in the name of 'trade' and 'civilization'..... Genuinely asking, what the hell is going on in your history classes?

When I was 10 years old, I learnt about the Mughals invasion, how the British set foot into India to trade spices and then established British India in the name of 'civilization'.

When I was 11 years old, I heard about the divide and conquer strategy, the livelihood of workers in plantations, how various handloom and weavers went out of work and starved to death.

When I was 12, I learnt about the Nizams cruel rule over my birthplace, Bhagath Singh getting hanged, Jallianwalabaagh massacre, cops torturing common people, Bengal partition, 1857 revolt, the salt satyagraha, Quit India movement, Civil rights, Independence, division of states and the Partition.

When I was 13, I learnt about the great depression, 2 world wars where the British just sent most of Indians to fight, the diary of Anne Frank, dictatorships and nuclear weapons.

When I was 14, I learnt about the cold war where two superpowers had the strength to topple governments and establish new ones, the CIA, the Arab spring and the horrible exploitation of natural resources of Africa by MNCs and Dutch shell company.

When I was 15, I learnt about the history of various other nations like China, France, Nigeria, America, Congo, Russia, Britain, Ireland, etc. and also various policies and acts introduced by the British government in India like the 1935 act and arms act.

I remember looking at an illustration of 200 persons from Africa cramped into a tiny ship on their way to America. I remember the illustration of a moving train, where people took cover under dead bodies to avoid bloodshed during the partition of India and Pakistan. I remember listening to Martin Luther King's speech.

Was this not written in your history books? Did you not see the museum displays where the stolen goods are proudly shown around? How the fuck are you still ignorant in the age of internet is beyond my comprehension.

#i am frankly sick of some people saying they just recently got to know why colonialism is bad #uk #british #anti colonialism #anti imperialism #queen elizabeth #ding dong the witch is dead #india #desi

3K notes · View notes

renthony · 2 months

Text

Iwájú, Disney's first animation collaboration with an outside studio in 100 years, has revealed its first trailer and a February 28 Disney+ release date for all episodes of the limited series. Iwájú is set in a futuristic Lagos, Nigeria, and tells a coming-of-age story that follows "Tola, a young girl from the wealthy island, and her best friend, Kole, a self-taught tech expert, as they discover the secrets and dangers hidden in their different worlds." The trailer, which you can see below, shows a world filled with incredible tech "inspired by the spirit of Lagos" and one adorable lizard named Otin. This special lizard, who is at least partially robotic in origin, is seen in the trailer with some pretty powerful abilities. The series comes from both Disney and Pan-African Comic Book Entertainment Company Kugali, and the team includes director Olufikayo Ziki Adeola, production designer Hamid Ibrahim, and cultural consultant Toluwalakin Olowofoyeku. The series is produced by Disney Animation’s Christina Chen with a screenplay by Adeola and Halima Hudson. The voice cast includes Simisola Gbadamosi (Tola), Dayo Okeniyi, Femi Branch, Siji Soetan (Kole), and Weruche Opia.

youtube

#iwaju #disney #animation #film news #entertainment news #animation news #disney news #afrofuturism #sff #sci fi #science fiction #Youtube

98 notes · View notes

writingquestionsanswered · 12 days

Note

okay so you’ve talked about mentioning modern day items, products or media in books before, but i wanted to ask about those same things but outside the US or the such as products from (insert third world country here) that ppl in the UK or The US would probably never hear of, because they aren’t locals who grew up in the area like someone like myself has.

Mentioning Less Familiar Products or Media

I'm not sure about the context you're referring to, because I've talked about it in a few different contexts in the past:

Timelessness - Specific products, businesses, services, and media have a tendency to "date" your story, meaning that they act as a timestamp that lets the reader know when your story takes place. For some stories that's not an issue, because you want the story to be rooted in a particular time period. For example, maybe you wrote a coming of age story set in the 1980s, so you mention products, media, businesses, etc. that were popular in the 80s. But let's say you want readers to feel like the story is current, whether they read it in a year or ten years from now. In that case, you wouldn't want to mention products and media popular today, because ten years from now those things will no longer be popular. This is true regardless of your story's setting, where you're from, or where your target audience is from.

Legalities - You generally want to avoid portraying real businesses, services, products, and people in a negative light, because although the likelihood is probably slim, there's always a chance they could sue you for harming their image and negatively impacting their income. This is true regardless of your story's setting, where you're from, or where your target audience is from.

Relevance - The products, businesses, services, and media should generally reflect the setting of your story, regardless of where you--the writer--are from, regardless of where the target reader is from. If you're Nigerian and writing for a Nigerian audience, and you set a story in New York City, the products, businesses, services, and media mentioned in your story should reflect the NYC setting. If your story is set in Nigeria and is written for a western audience, the products, businesses, services, and media should reflect your Nigerian setting. Even if most westerners won't be familiar with those goods and services.

I hope that answers your question!

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

I’ve been writing seriously for over 30 years and love to share what I’ve learned. Have a writing question? My inbox is always open!

♦ Questions that violate my ask policies will be deleted! ♦ Please see my master list of top posts before asking ♦ Learn more about WQA here

#wqaadvice

69 notes · View notes

workingclasshistory · 10 months

Photo

On this day, 22 June 1945, tens of thousands of workers in Nigeria defied the Trades Union Congress (TUC) and walked out on a general strike in protest at the British colonial administration refusing to meet workers' demands for a minimum wage of 2 shillings and sixpence and a 50% increase in the cost of living allowance. The TUC wanted to delay any action, but after months of agitation involving mass meetings of up to 8,000 workers at a time, the workers were not prepared to wait any longer. Railway employees, dockers and civil service workers walked out while many workers at private firms refused to cross picket lines. At its peak, between 42,000 and 200,000 workers were out, and despite the deployment of British troops and sabotage by some nationalist groups like the Nigeria Youth Movement the stoppage lasted 45 days. The strike was largely successful, as the cost of living increase was awarded in 1946, backdated to the previous year. For this and hundreds of other stories, get hold of a copy of our book, Working Class History: https://shop.workingclasshistory.com/products/working-class-history-everyday-acts-resistance-rebellion-book Pictured: A general strike in Nigeria, 1964 https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=648724973967388&set=a.602588028581083&type=3

147 notes · View notes

clonerightsagenda · 4 months

Text

Kat's Top Books of 2023

Was inspired by someone else's post to do a Kat's top 5 books of the year post culling from my #recently reads. I read a lot this year and encountered a lot of great titles, but these ones were particularly memorable:

Vagabonds! by Eloghosa Osunde. Interconnected short stories following the lives of queer misfits and outcasts in Nigeria. I have a passage saved on my phone. I read this back in January so I don't remember the contents as much as the feelings it evoked, but it was beautiful and haunting.

Don’t Fear the Reaper by Stephen Graham Jones. Read My Heart is a Chainsaw first if you haven't already. The books pit Jade Daniels, a young woman with a trauma she's refusing to face head on but instead buries in an obsession with the moral logic of slasher films, against irl slashers who keep coming to town. Bonus points for wired jaw representation, aka my future.

Brotherless Night by V.V. Ganeshananthan. Set during the Sri Lankan civil war following a young Tamil woman who's caught in the middle as loved ones join the Tigers. It starts with a striking passage that you think means one thing and then comes back later in a way you don't expect that's a huge gut punch.

The Spear Cuts Through Water by Simon Jimenez. A high fantasy story that is also a diaspora story as the characters' scattered descendants watch history play out. Dips into everyone's thoughts to create a chorus POV that's really effective. Note - incredibly gruesome. Organs, lovingly described, etc.

The Golem of Brooklyn by Adam Mansbach. A stoned art teacher accidentally creates a golem who decides his mission is to stop an upcoming alt right rally. Explores the interactions between the old world and the new and the weight of historical trauma - every golem shares the same ancestral memory. Carries its tensions to the very last page and leaves the reader to supply the answers.

(Honorable mention to System Collapse which didn't make it into the #recently read posts, but I had a great time!)

Nonfiction shoutout to A City on Mars which sourced so many delightful space facts and gave me a lot to think about re: SF worldbuilding that is at all grounded in reality. Plus it was really funny.

50 notes · View notes

mundanemoongirl · 3 months

Text

Happy Black History Month!! To celebrate, I made this list to share some of my favorite books written by Black authors and have Black main characters

Blood Like Magic by Liselle Sambury

This is one of my absolute favorite books. It’s about a Black girl who was born into a witch family, and in order to get powers, she has to pass a task given to her by one of her ancestors. Her task happens to be to find her first love and destroy them. This book has elements of fantasy, sci-fi, mystery, and romance and the sequel is just as good. I will never stop recommending it.

Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor

Although the main character of this book is in middle school, I think it’s a good read for people of all ages. The story follows Sunny, a Nigerian girl with albinism. After learning she is a witch, she begins to live a double life. One where she pretends to be her same non-magical self to her family, and one where she learns about magic and herself with Orlu, her friend from school; Chichi, Orlu’s mysterious friend; and Sasha, an American boy who moved to Nigeria.

Caucasia by Danzy Senna

Caucasia is the coming of age story of a girl born to a White mother and Black father in the 1970s. As someone who passes for White, she struggles to find where she belongs. She experiences being both Black and White, changing her race as easily as changing clothes, depending on who she needs to be at the time. She also has to deal with her family splitting up and her parents’ activism that might get them into serious trouble.

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

I’m sure everyone’s heard of this one, but in case you haven’t: Starr was in her friend’s car the night he was killed by a police officer. She struggles afterwards to cope with his violent death and to speak up while remaining anonymous. This book is so so important. Police brutality never seems to stop, even in my own neighborhood. Everyone will benefit by learning more and speaking out against it.

Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson

Black Cake is about siblings Byron and Benny who are left with only a black cake and a tape recording when their mother dies. In the recording, their mother tells the story of someone they don’t even know, and the two have to learn to be a family again after a falling out they had years ago.

Here are some more that aren’t my favorites but I think others might love

Rust in the Root by Justina Ireland

This one is about a Black, queer mage in 1930s America trying to get a license to practice magic. Her new government job sends her on a journey to fix a blight that is more deadly than anyone expected.

Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi

Set in a land similar to Africa, the magi, people who have magic, have all been killed by the monarchy. One day magic returns and one of the last remaining magi teams up with the princess to protect magic and prepare the magi to fight for their lives.

Cinderella is Dead by Kalynn Bayron

200 years of Cinderella dies, the land is ruled by Prince Charming, who forces all young women to attend a ball to find a suitor. Sophia, who is queer, opposes this lifestyle and runs away. Once she’s away from the prince’s influence, she discovers the true story of Cinderella and what she can do to stop the balls.

#black history month #black books #books and reading #book recommendations #black writers #diverse books #diverse reads #bookish #fantasy books #black stories

24 notes · View notes

gretahayes · 6 months

Note

top 5 mythological figures or myths?

you didn’t specify which so like i pulled up my book of african and caribbean myths & legends

my number one fave i never talk about is told amongst the yoruba people in nigeria (not yoruba but that's my country...), togo & benin (west african countries! africa is not a country. as a disclaimer). it’s a creation myth. a lot happens in it but the background is there’s deities in the sky—orishas. they’re ruled by their father and creator, olorun, who is known as their father, the sky god. it’s the magical story of how obatala (the orisha of creativity and inner peace, a very deep thinker, always solving problems and coming up with ideas) created the earth, the first people and the first ancient city, ife (in nigeria!!!). even though all of the orishas have magical powers to create wonderful things, their plans do not always work out as expected. my favorite orisha in this myth is obatala's son, ogun, the blacksmith. he’s so funny. just wants to work in his forge on his weapons and doesn’t like to be disturbed. they need to free him.

shoutout to eurydice and orpheus. they make me cry.

3rd is another african myth. not sorry. it's a creation story about the buganda people of uganda (in east africa, for all you westerners who know nothing about africa). it’s about how death came into the world, and above all it's a love story between kintu and nambi. in this version, kintu is the first man to be created on earth. he meets and falls in love with the only daughter of the sky god (gulu), named nambi. he is set several impossible challenges to prove he is worthy to marry her. they're impossible but of course he figures it out because he loves her and she loves him. also he cheats, because of course. think eros and psyche. i love nambi. she’s described as fiery and fearless. & especially i adore the lack of eurocentric ideas of beauty. dark bodies and strong arms being used to describe all of gulu's children indiscriminately to show their godliness. kintu's skin being as dark as midnight and his hair twisted and curled into tight knots around his head. gorgeous bronzed skin and black eyes that flash with flecks of amber being nambi's description. and all these things are positive and attractive...ANYWAY how death comes into the world is arguably the least important part of this imo but if you care it's because her brother walambe follows her to live on earth cause he follows her everywhere. and also he's death.

to be boring; the odyssey! it's on my to-read list for sure it's so fun. i lovee odysseus and his lying trickster debatably a good person swag.

have to represent my boy reuben from christian mythology. oldest brother who failed to save his youngest-minus-one little brother from being sold into slavery? love him. mwah.

(ask game)

#asks #ask game #if any of the disclaimers i add sound mean it's cause they are mean. have to cover all my bases. not u connor just the general populace

29 notes · View notes

lesbianboyfriend · 2 months

Note

can i ask for lesbian book recommendations 🥹🕺

yeassss ofc my love <3

erm and obligatory disclaimer for any who might read that i don’t think “queer” or “lesbian” is a necessarily coherent category of books or adequate descriptor for a novel which is why i’ve also provided the actual genres here (sorted into which ever one i felt best fit) and descriptions. and these books have much more going on than just being about lesbians. however all books are undeniably awesomer with lesbians so yayyyyy

FANTASY:

-the salt grows heavy by cassandra khaw: fantasy horror; murderous mermaid and plague doctor come across a cult of children (could be read as not lesbians bc one character is nonbinary but i choose to read as. lesbians)

-the empress of salt and fortune by nghi vo: political fantasy; monk unravels the tale of exiled empress’ rise to power

-when the the tigers came down the mountain by nghi vo: political fantasy; monk unwinds the tale of a tiger and her scholar lover to prevent other tigers from eating them (stand alone sequel to empress of salt and fortune)

-ship of smoke and steel by django wexler: ya fantasy; girl has to steal a ghost ship to save her sister’s life

-the mermaid, the witch, and the sea by maggie tokuda-hall: ya fantasy; pirate falls in love with one of the ship’s hostages, a girl being sent to an arranged marriage against her will

-tremontaine created by ellen kushner: political fantasy; there’s a lot going on in this one okay just trust me that it’s really good esp if you love political intrigue (this was released serially and is easiest to acquire an electronic version)

-the deep by rivers solomon: fantasy/spec fic; African slave women thrown overboard gave birth to mermaid-esque descendants. one holds these traumatic memories for her whole people and must grapple with that pressure

-wild beauty by anna-marie mclemore: ya magical realism/fantasy; a family of women who can create flowers and whose lovers always tragically vanish fight to keep their land and to unravel the mystery of a strange boy who appeared

-siren queen by nghi vo: historical magical realism/fantasy; girl’s rise to stardom amidst the monsters of hollywood back in the days of the studio system

-gideon the ninth by tamsyn muir: sff; um. how to explain briefly. gideon wants nothing more than to leave the ninth house, but her nemesis harrowhark needs her sword skills to pass the emperors trial and become immortal. sure. (caleb i know you’ve read this just adding for any other viewers yayyy)

HORROR:

-white is for witching by helen oyeyemi: horror fantasy/magical realism; a house with women in its walls calls to miranda silver while the people she leaves behind struggle to make sense of what happened to her

-plain bad heroines by emily a. danforth: historical horror; when filming a movie about the macabre history of a boarding school, its past starts to become the reality for the stars and author of the novel it’s based on

LITFIC:

-girl woman other: contemporary litfic; the intersecting stories of Black british women told in verse

-nightwood: classic literary; i feel like i can’t describe this one well but nora and jenny are obsessed with robin, whose penchant for wandering and inability to commit drives them crazy. toxic dyke drama at its best

-the thirty names of night: lit fic; transmasc syrian american unravels the history of artist laila z who encountered the same rare bird his mother saw right before her death and realizes their pasts are intertwined

-under the udala trees: historical lit fic; coming of age set against the backdrop of civil war in Nigeria, two girls from different ethnic communities fall in love

-everyone in this room will someday be dead: contemporary lit fic; that moment when your ocd lands you a job at the catholic church even though you’re an atheist and also your relationship is falling apart

-stone butch blues: historical lit fic; butch lesbian realizing and grappling with her identity throughout the 40s-70s

-the color purple: classic lit fic; story of two sisters separated in their youth—one is forced into an abusive marriage and falls in love with her husbands mistress, wondering what became of her sister

-oranges are not the only fruit: semi-autobiography with slight fantasy elements; exploring growing up lesbian in a deeply religious pentecostal sect

SCI-FI:

-the weight of the stars: ya sf romance; aspiring astronaut is forced into friendship with a girl who waits on the roof every night for radio signals from her mother in space

-the seep: sci-fi/spec fic; what if aliens invaded and formed a hive mind of everyone and also your girlfriend turned into a baby again. wouldn’t that be fucked up

-the stars are legion: political science fiction; an awakes with no memory amid a group of people calling themself her family who claim she is the only one who can save their world

-not your sidekick: ya sci-fi; superheroes are real and they fucking suck

SHORT STORIES:

-sarahland: contemporary/spec fic short story collection; various stories about people named sarah

#jules.txt #asks #bookshelf

19 notes · View notes

wen-kexing-apologist · 7 months

Text

Bengiyo's Queer Cinema Syllabus

For those who are not aware, I have decided to run the gauntlet of @bengiyo’s Queer Cinema Syllabus and have officially started Unit 2: Race, Disability, and Class. The films in Unit 2 are: The Way He Looks (2014), Being 17 (2016), Naz and Maalik (2015), The Obituary of Tunde Johnson (2019), Margarita With a Straw (2014), My Beautiful Laundrette (1985), Brother to Brother (2004), and Beautiful Thing (1996)

Today I will be writing about

The Obituary of Tunde Johnson (2019) dir. Ali LeRoi

[Available on Amazon and Hulu, Run Time- 1:44, Language: English]

Summary: A wealthy Nigerian-American is pulled over by police, shot to death, and immediately awakens, reliving the same day over and over, trapped in a terrifying time loop- forced to confront difficult truths about his life and himself.

Cast: * Steven Silver as Tunde Johnson * Spencer Neville as Soren O’Connor *Nicola Peltz as Marley Meyers

___

I will tell you right now, this was one hell of a watch. It never lets you forget, from the very first second, how much of a tragedy this film is going to give you. God, I don’t even know what to say about this film. It is beautiful, it is poetry, it is horrifying, it is tragic, and real. This is a film I think a good majority of people should see. I don’t know if you all know this about me, but I am a slut for beautiful prose (it’s why Frankenstein is one of my favorite books) and The Obituary of Tunde Johnson delivers line after line of the most beautiful and devastating kind.

One thing that I want to mention, because it just speaks to the absolute predictability and unfortunate reality of how often Black people are murdered by police, is that The Obituary of Tunde Johnson was released in 2019. But they set it in the future, according to @bengiyo, because they thought the film wouldn’t get released until 2020. The thing that was absolutely chilling about that choice, is not the year, but the date that was selected.

“Babatunde Adesola Johnson was born on September 30th, 2002 to Adesola Johnson and Yomi Okafor in Lagos, Nigeria. On the night of May 28th, 2020, Tunde Johnson departed this life at 9:38pm in Los Angeles, California”

Because, George Floyd was murdered on May 25th, 2020.

They couldn’t have known that, and it is so entirely possible that any day they had chosen would coincide with another tragic and preventable loss. But the weight of the first sentence of this film alone struck me. Because the premise of this film is that Tunde Johnson is stuck in a time loop where he is killed by police before the night is over. Tunde is the vessel by which repeated violent racism and genocide against the Black Community is committed over and over and over and over, in an endless, exhausting cycle. So it is a coincidence, but a sobering one to realize that Tunde died around with Mr. Floyd would have, and made me wonder whether or not his name would be forgotten.

But secondarily, they chose Los Angeles as the setting for his first death. Which gave me pause because the only thing I could think about when I heard that was whether or not it was an intentional call to the LA Riots of 1992 which (for those who are not familiar with US history) began as a result of four police officers being acquitted on charges of using excessive force in the arrest of a man named Rodney King.

9:37 pm on July 6, 2016 is when Philando Castile died from the wounds he suffered at the hands of police.

It is hard for me to figure out what to talk about with this film because more than anything it gave me pause, it left me speechless and contemplative about their messaging. So, let me give you some lines:

“I’m having really abstract ideas. Colors, hues, my next photo series. Something…something like, deconstruction. A young African American male, or Black masculinity….I just keep seeing red,”

“We love you unconditionally. I want you to know. I want you to know that, to understand that, with unconditional love comes unconditional fear.”

“I will no longer die. I have become 200 hills rolled in to one. I am immovable.”

“I’m Black and gay, and even those two hate each other. Which means,like in the eyes of humanity, i’m like wo degrees off human. Something to be feared and laughed at, like this curiosity in the corner. I should be happier though, right? Dr. Martinez? Cause I”m one of the lucky ones, like I got a nice car, and a big house. All this stuff, supposed to make me feel like I’m worth something. People walk right through me, Dr. Martinez. No one sees me. Except him. Soren sees all of me. And if he can do that, then he can do anything.”

Like these are just beautiful, tragic words, each one carrying significant weight.

My warning to those of you who may watch this (and again, I think most everyone should watch this) is that you will see repeated acts of violence done to a Black teen (or in this case a 30 year old actor playing an 18 year old). [And I will be talking with some details about those deaths from here] And part of what is striking about that is that the way we see him die changes every time. The first time Tunde Johnson dies, we are in his point of view, he is pulled aside for a traffic stop, and shot when he turns to talk to an officer, with his hand in his pocket and gets struck twice in the chest, one officer yelling “gun!” [he did not have a gun]. The second time Tunde Johnson dies, he is killed the same way, pulled over at 9:38pm, and shot when he turns around, but this time, we see it through the cop car’s dash cam. I think “I wonder if the solution to surviving the evening is having a white person in the car with him so the officers behave themselves” which was then immediately undermined when Tunde was shot in the driver’s side of a parked car, and shot by two white female police officers while his wealthy, white boyfriend Soren livestreams the cops to try to hold them accountable I guess?

Crucially, this white boy escalates the situation with the police officers because he can talk back to them and be safe, and the police get aggressive, tell Tunde not to move and to step out of the car (you know, don’t move to unbuckle your seatbelt, but step out of the car) and fire multiple shots at him at point blank range. We see this happen through the livestream.

His next death happens via the image of a 911 operator phone call transcript, you hear the gun go off in the background of the call. Tunde wakes up for the umpteenth time in the time loop, calls his boyfriend multiple times because he’s feeling like he’s losing his mind, and Soren doesn’t answer for hours, so Tunde is mad. And Tunde goes to school mad, and Tunde brushes past the front office at the school he goes to and should be known at and starts walking the halls, escalated. He sees his boyfriend fucking his girlfriend, gets mad, gets in a small fight with the two of them, and is shot in the hallway with his hands up while the two white people are completely fine, safe, and sobbing over the dead body of their friend. The lead up to that we see Tunde through the school’s CCTV screens.

So, up through now the deaths we have seen have been quick in all accounts, one movement from Tunde sends the officers shooting, he drops to the ground, and then he wakes up gasping. Over and over, and over and then…the last time Tunde Johnson dies, we see the scene first through the window of a gas station. The famous, wealthy white man walks away for one minute, and Tunde is being brutalized, and he dies by being suffocated, trying to tell the police officer ‘I can’t breathe” but not being able to complete the sentence. I would have to go back to time that scene, and I am not going to do that because one time watching this kid die was enough, and the entire time he’s choking they stay zoomed in on his face, to time it to see if it is referencing any particular death by choking case of police brutality (I’m thinking very much of Eric Garner here). [To here]

(if you skipped any of that, or in general just to summarize, Tunde's deaths are recording: in his POV, by dash cam, by live stream, by security camera, by 9-1-1 call transcript, and in extreme close up)

I like that Tunde wakes up after this final death, he says “I will no longer die. I have become 200 hills rolled in to one. I am immovable.” and that in speaking those words, he has made them true. There is so much obvious genius in this film, the cinematography is beautiful. I love the way they keep adding details to the time loop to make each experience different, and that those differences start out miniscule, and change almost entirely the more times he dies. I love that Tunde finally seeing that his best friend since childhood, Marley, who is white will turn against him in an instant the second that he hurts her. I love that Tunde survives the night when he finally stops letting himself settle for the way Soren (also white) has been treating him. When he finally has enough with letting Soren not only deny their relationship, but to fuck someone else to keep up appearances. I like that we get enough of a backstory on Tunde to understand some things about him, but a small amount that makes us realize that he has a lot of other things in his past that are informing how he alks about through life right now. I like that it feels like Tunde is lived in, like he is a person, with a history, and that at any point we could ask the writers, the actor, or whoever about Tunde Johnson’s likes or interests, or his best or worst memory, and they would have an answer for you.

This film will sit with me for awhile, that’s for sure.

By/For/About

For and About Queers. I would say that this is a tricker one for me because there are some heavy handed messages in this show about like, white privilege and all that, that makes me feel like it is being written for people who do not hold the identities in the film, so I would be inclined to say it was mostly just About Queers, BUT I think that there are specific groups of queer people for whom this film may strongly be made for them. I do think this film does an incredible job of maintaining and reminding the audience of Tunde’s queerness, because there is a history of police brutality and queerness that cannot be forgotten, and by having Tunde be both Black and queer, there is literally no part of himself he can protect from police violence.

Favorite Moment

My favorite moment is Tunge’s monologue about being Black and gay. It was so beautifully performed, the words were so powerful, the way Tunde’s white or white-passing, female psychiatrist was reacting to the realizations of why Tunde exists the way he does. And I like the subtle messaging we get as a result of that, understanding that yay, it’s great that Tunde or his parents put some value on mental health, but how beneficial is Tunde’s treatment going to be if his psychiatrist holds literally 0 of the identities that he does?

Favorite Line

The last line of the film.

“On March 28, 2020 Tunde Johnson survived.”

I don’t think I realized how much I was holding my breath throughout this film until I heard those words aloud.

Score

10/10

P.S. it is reallllyyyy fucking telling about how people have engaged with this film when 95% of the things I saw in the tags for this film when I was looking for gifs are of Marley and Soren, the two white people, or Soren and Tunde together when part of Tunde's entire arc is shedding that dead weight.

photos from @kilimiria

Next up: margarita with a straw

#queer cinema syllabus #the obituary of tunde johnson #totj

29 notes · View notes

disneytva · 2 months

Text

Disney+ Sets Key Art And Trailer For KUGALI and Walt Disney Animation Studios "IWAJU"

The official trailer and new key art has arrived for Iwájú — a brand new series from Walt Disney Animation Studios and Pan-African comic-book/ entertainment company Kugali, streaming on Disney+ beginning February 28.

Set in a futuristic Lagos, Nigeria, the exciting coming-of-age story follows Tola (voice of Simisola Gbadamosi), a young girl from the wealthy island, and her best friend, Kole (Siji Soetan), a self-taught tech expert, as they discover the secrets and dangers hidden in their different worlds. Kugali filmmakers — including director Olufikayo Ziki Adeola, production designer Hamid Ibrahim and cultural consultant Toluwalakin Olowofoyeku — take viewers on a unique journey into the world of Iwájú, bursting with unique visual elements and technological advancements inspired by the spirit of Lagos.

IWAJU soundtrack by Walt Disney Records will debut March 1, 2024 on all digital music platforms. The music is by renowned Nigerian composer Ré Olunuga, whose credits include score for Walt Disney Studios "Rise" (2020).

youtube

#Iwájú #Iwaju #Ziki Nelson #Hamid Ibrahim #Toluwalakin Olowofoyeku #Adeola Hudson #Hamila Hudson #Halima Hudson #KUGALI #Walt Disney Animation Studios #Disney+#Disney Plus #Disney+ Originals #Disney Plus Originals #Disney+ Original Series #Disney Plus Original Series #Disney+ Original Animated Series #Disney Plus Original Animated Series #Youtube

17 notes · View notes

literary-illuminati · 11 months

Text

Book Review 24 - The Death of Vivek Oji by Awaeke Emezi

I always feel slightly weird trying to organize my thoughts after reading actual literary fiction, if only because it’s such a small slice of my reading diet and there’s so much of it I’m totally ignorant of. This book is, I’m sure, ably in conversation with a dozen others in ways I totally failed to detect as I read it.

So, having accepted that I’m probably going to embarrass myself trying to talk about it; I overall really enjoyed this book, with a few somewhat major caveats.

The story jumps across time and perspective quite a bit, but it’s set in southern Nigeria, centred around a pair of brothers, their wives, and, especially, their two children. The eponymous Vivek Oji is one of those children, and the book is about them even though they honestly don’t get particularly much screen time, and also the book opens with their mother finding their corpse wrapped in a carpet and left in front of the family’s front door. The book bounces back and forth before and after that death, on the one hand giving everyone’s life stories and on the other following the mother’s increasingly desperate attempts to investigate a death the police don’t show any interest in.

So this is very much capital q capital l Queer Lit – the whole central drama around Vivek’s death is that they were flagrantly gender nonconforming and (as becomes clear very quickly) either genderfluid or a trans woman, with the universal assumption being that they were lynched by homophobes during a riot. A pretty major subplot is their cousin Osita (one of our main POVs) accepting that he’s queer, and the contrast of the supportive little queer friend group they both find compared to the conservative, homophobic world they live in is a major theme.

The prose is really just lovely – literary is the word for a reason, I suppose – and honestly close to breathtaking at points. Almost every character rings extremely true to life, which is to say deeply flawed and utterly unselfaware about why they do the things they do, but in a way that’s actually usually (usually) pretty endearing. (There’s so many affairs among the older generation you’re rather left wondering what the point of marriage even is to begin with, but as far as I can tell that’s not that far from true to life).

I can’t really comment on the accuracy of the book’s depiction of Nigerian culture, save that nothing was so totally unbelievable or obviously wrong it stood out to me. It at least felt very real, full of little quotidian details and minor hypocrisies and other touches that really made the book’s settings live and breath.

My issues with the book are fairly few, but they’re unfortunately pretty structural. Mostly it’s with Vivek themselves. They’re a very identifiable character archetype – perpetually innocent and idealistic to the point where they’re treated by the narrative as somewhere between a holy mystic and perpetual child, incapable of ever really explaining themselves but this sort of inspirational idol in other people’s lives and, of course, dead. Even when well-written, the whole archetype still leaves a bit of a bad taste in my mouth.

The other thing is just – spoilers for the very, very end of the book, I suppose – the reveal of just how they actually died. They weren’t killed by a lynch mob, you see – Osita, their cousin/boyfriend and one of the main POV characters, eventually reveals that he had been trying to convince them not to go out in public wearing a dress when a riot was clearly about to start, and when they insisted on going down to the market anyway got frustrated and shoved them. Which, entirely by accident, sent them tripping over the pavement, falling to the ground, hitting their head on the curb, and near-instantly dying.

Thematically it’s clear to the point of browbeating – literally, not killed by someone for being out in public, but by the fear of how people might react to coming out – but I just found it incredibly bathetic? And slightly annoyed at how obvious and blatant it made the author’s puppet strings.

Anyway, complaints aside, still a beautifully written book.

#book review #the death of vivek oji #Awaeke Emezi #literature

25 notes · View notes

disasterbijamietartt · 1 year

Text

Since I just can’t not think about how Roy x Jamie could still happen and my dream scenario for the next episode, I’ll just drop this here for fanfic writers looking for ideas since none of this will happen and I know I'm too lazy to write this myself 😂

(Jamie was in two promo pics so he’ll probably be a background character with zero lines but some great pantomimes)

Jamie won’t be called up for England to play in the qualifications for the World Cup in Qatar, which is a downer at first, but he soon recovers (he’s a battler after all). And he still could make the cut for the actual World Cup team (I don’t know if this is how it works with the teams, but I doubt the show would care). Therefore, Roy and he have some extra intense training while everyone else is on break. Finally, we get a proper training montage to the tune of “Physical” by Olivia Newton-John.

(Sam also won’t be called up for Nigeria since Akufo is a piece of shit. 😞 But he’ll focus on his restaurant during the break, which is Akufo’s next target on his irrational mission to ruin everything good for Sam. But this will lead to Sam and Simi bonding some more and becoming an official couple. And Rebecca somehow gets Akufo to stop with his scheming. (He probably wants to buy Richmond to kick Sam off the team…) Maybe thanks to a bet similar to the dart competition with Rupert.)

But back to our main guys.

Roy is still pondering what he wants out of life (For once this season he hasn’t forgotten the lesson he learned between episodes!). During a training session, he asks Jamie what Jamie wants out of life. Jamie answers something like “I just want to live life as me!” which initially has Roy rolling his eyes. Until Jamie explains that most of his life he has lived as the man his dad wanted him to be instead of being true to himself. And that he wants to become the best version of himself to finally deserve to be loved and cared for. (And Roy looks puzzled like “??? But everyone already loves and cares about him???? Even me.”, but of course doesn’t say so…)

Then something along the lines of “I wanted and got a lot of things for the wrong reasons, so … maybe it is better not to get what you want but what you need.”

Jamie also comes out as bisexual during this exchange. He tells Roy how Colin’s coming out and everyone’s acceptance made him think maybe he can actually be bisexual. Instead of always hiding this part of himself, just because his dad hated it when he got the notion Jamie might be into boys.

(All of this then sets up that Jamie turns down the offer to play for England in Qatar, since he won’t support a World Cup in a country where they still have strict anti-gay laws. Clarifying that it is more important for Jamie to be the best, most authentic version of himself instead of being the best and most successful footballer he could become)

Keeley loses KJPR since Jack pulls the funding. And she realises the firm was something she might have wanted, but not what she had actually needed at this point in her life.

When Keeley goes to Rebecca to talk about this, she runs into Jamie in the hallway, they have a sweet exchange (he encourages her not to give up on her dreams), that is witnessed by Roy who has this yearning, slightly jealous expression (Cue for Isaac to talk about body language and something along the lines of “Sorry, coach, looks like she’s over you”)

Roy and Jamie do a school visit similar to the one with Ted and Roy in “Trent Crimm, the Independent”. Jamie meets Phoebe and Ms Bowen and while they interact, there is a similar wistful shot of Roy pondering … something. (Trent is there for his book and looks at Roy like “I know what you are”)

(Alternatively, Phoebe’s team visits Nelson Road and that is where the locker room stills are from—I just want Jamie to meet Phoebe!)

In a later scene, Roy is watching TV with Phoebe, getting snacks while some commercials run.

Cut to Keeley slouching on her couch, watching the same station as Roy and Phoebe.

And then Jamie’s bantr commercial plays. He says something super profound. That he is looking for a relationship where they help each other become the best version of themselves and support each other in reaching their life goals. This visibly moves Keeley.

Cut back to Roy and Phoebe. Roy tells Phoebe he has to go somewhere, to get what he really needs.

And then “You can’t always get what you want” by the Rolling Stones starts playing, while Roy makes his way to his unknown destination. Is it Keeley? Ms Bowen? (Spoiler, it is neither!)

(The song is both a callback to Jamie comparing him and Roy to Mick Jagger and Keith Richards AND to “She’s a Rainbow” playing while Roy returned to Richmond. And the chorus very well suits the theme of the episode as I wrote it in my head.

Edit: I also just noticed they used this song for the season 3 trailer, which I had totally forgotten about, so it would make even more sense to pick it up at some point later in the season)

And we get a montage of what is going on in the other characters’ lives, finishing of their storylines for this episode.

Rebecca has realised throughout the episode that she wants to give Sam another shot. But when she reaches Ola’s she sees Sam and Simi being cute together and kissing. Rebecca turns around, runs off and slams into someone. She drops her phone and when she reaches down to get it, the other person does the same. Cue to them looking at each other and … it is Dutch Guy! (And at last Rebecca gets to see his penis!)

Feeling sympathy for Bex, Nate leaked information to the press about Rupert's cheating (just like he did with Ted, but this time it is for the greater good!!!). Rupert finds out who the source is and tears Nate down verbally, really humiliating & insulting him to the core (to stress the stark difference between Rupert and Ted). In the end, Rupert threatens to fire Nate if he makes another mistake. Nate is devastated at first, but finds comfort with Jade. She is proud of him for exposing Rupert for the cheating asshole he is and reassures Nate (who is a worried mess about possibly losing his job) that she likes him and not his money and fame.

(At first I wanted Rupert to outright fire Nate, but Rupert probably wouldn’t want more bad publicity by firing the Wonder Kid AND it would be a better end for Nate’s arc if he is the one walking away from Rupert.)

Someone rings at Keeley’s door, but … it is not Roy, it is Barbara. She tells Keeley that she quit her job with Jack since she is sick of collecting snow globes. She rather wants to build a business with Keeley. (And for the rest of the season Keeley works on building her own little PR firm, slowly growing instead of suddenly being overwhelmingly BIG because of funding and expectations, with AFC Richmond as her primary client.)

(Also something with Ted, but I haven’t settled on some specific scenario. Maybe some realisation that the team may want him to stay but they don’t need him anymore, therefore it is better for him to leave so they can grow on their own. I’m fairly certain he’ll leave—or at least he decides to leave—by the end of the series, but it might be too early for him to actually come to this realisation. Either Trent or Rebecca or both will play a big part in his storyline this episode)

Next cut is Jamie on the couch, reading a book about football tactics. It rings at his door, and when he opens, *gasp*, it is Roy, a bit breathless and sweaty from running too fast. Jamie is a bit confused. Roy explains he has finally realised what he wants out of his life and that he maybe not get it, but he has to at least try. Then Roy confesses to Jamie that he wants him. A brief moment of hesitation before they kiss.

Fade to black and the end credits start rolling.

OR, if they go for a more gut-wrenching scenario and Jamie x Keeley x Roy endgame: Roy reaches Jamie’s house just in time to see Keeley standing at the door, both of them talking and then Keeley going in for a kiss. Shot of a very sad Roy turning away while Keeley and Jamie retreat into the house.

#jamie tartt #roy kent #jamie x roy #roy x jamie #royjamie #roy kent x jamie tartt #my stuff #not really meta or speculations more my wishlist lol

38 notes · View notes

selaseldon · 5 months

Text

Roundtable Queries: History Redesigned in Noughts + Crosses

Noughts and Crosses (2020) is a television show based on the book series by Marjorie Blackman that speculatives a past where instead of Europe colonizing Africa, parts of Europe were colonized by Africa. In Noughts and Crosses, Europe is colonized by the Aprican Empire. White people are referred to as “Noughts” and Black people as “Crosses.” The show is a visually stunning and narratively a love story of two people, Sephy and Callum who fall in love but live in a world that upholds segregation law which condemns interracial relationships. The show is set in modern times in a fictionalized colony in London called Adonia, where unrest is building due to the oppression of the Noughts.

What is the koinos kosmos (common world) and mutually assumed knowledge the series shares with viewers?

The show itself assumes the audience is aware of the actual history between Europe and Africa, and that the racially charged occurrences depicted in the show, for example the police brutality the Noughts face, is reversed in our reality.

How does the series depict cultural hybridity through the alerted history’s role in reflecting and reshaping cultural assumptions?

The show is a very interesting blend of African culture but in the Western world, as it is set in London. The world the show depicts is one that is dominated by African culture, and so the goal of the show is to depict a world that is opposite of the one we live in now, and ultimately spotlight the experience of colonialism and how it has seeped into every aspect of society. This history places a troubling context behind relationships between the Noughts and Crosses, specifically a significant power imbalance. The altered historical context reflects and reshapes cultural assumptions by showing how these societies, with differing backgrounds, beliefs, and privileges, collide and intersect.

How does the series depict the power of understanding world-creation?

The show includes Yoruba in the script, which is a language that originates in the south western area of Nigeria, and is spoken in mostly West Africa. By incorporating Yoruba within the script, the show displays how language and words are not just used arbitrarily, and that the use of certain languages over others carries precedent, and establishes power. Within the context of the show, it makes sense that Yoruba is a more “universal” language like English, which, once again, is reversed in our reality.

Similarly to Thrall’s findings in “Shifting Histories, Blurred Borders, and Mediated Sacred Texts in Philip K. Dick’s The Man in the High Castle,” I found a scene set in an educational facility that shows an altered history of colonization that is the reality of the show. The end of “The Great World War” results in “Aprica seen as Albion’s saviour,” and “Europe is divided amongst the Aprican Empire, the Malian Empire and the Moors.” The map depicts different territories that were colonized by the Aprican Empire, such as Albion (London), Norway and Sweden. While it was a quick scene in the episode, it demonstrated how educational institutions are vital to the preservation of history and inherently uplift certain narratives over others.

In what ways do formulations of the past, present, and future engage with prospective realities of what might have been and what might be in the series’ alerted history?

What I think is really interesting is that because the show has flipped the role of the colonizer and oppressor, essentially all of our reality that we are experiencing now is depicted in terrifying detail in the show, just with opposite perspectives. The first episode is essentially a welcoming to a society that is just like ours, but with the roles reversed. Colonialism is a history that impacts reality, and that is the truth, both in the speculative fiction and our reality.

How do multiple realities or contemplations of multiple realities merge with questions of authenticity?

The show spotlights both realities of Noughts and Crosses, the most significant one in the first episode being police brutality. After Danny is hit by the officers, all the news and media depicting the story villainize Danny for being a Nought, and government officials and the general public of Crosses assume the police attacked in self defense, which was not the case. For the Noughts, this is the reality they have to face, and this is a reality that character Sephy starts to realize during the episode. I would say in Episode 1, the show displays how one's individual reality is not always congruent with others, or with the dominant "authentic" reality. Director Kolby Adom mentions how the goal of the show is to flesh out subtleties of experience and bring attention to such subtleties so that someone who has not experienced would not know of otherwise. This is somewhat similar to Thrall’s assertions that Dick asks the viewer to “contemplate global hegemony as practiced by the United States and other Western powers” and likens them (218).

@oxyspeculativetv-fa23

#oxyspeculativetv

16 notes · View notes