The focus in Afrofuturist scholarship has always been on the ways in which the black experience, particularly the forcible dislocation of the Middle Passage, has been akin to sensations of...Show moreThe focus in Afrofuturist scholarship has always been on the ways in which the black experience, particularly the forcible dislocation of the Middle Passage, has been akin to sensations of alienation and “Othering” explored in science fiction and speculative fiction. While a range of technologies have been analyzed in the context of Afrofuturism, from sonic, to digital, to even aerospace technologies, I argue in this thesis that there is a gap in scholarship on the medical technologies that undergird the alienation experienced by African Americans. To fill this gap, my research focuses on two works of fiction, Ralph Ellison’s classic novel Invisible Man (1952) and Jordan Peele’s recent movie Get Out (2017), that deal with the oppressive power of medicine. I argue that in both narratives medical experiments are used to take control over black bodies and minds, and I position this political violence into a history of medical experimentation and abuse on African Americans as well as Afrofuturism. As much as the medical mistreatment that the protagonists in these texts suffer seems exclusive to the world of science fiction, it has been, and might continue to be, part of the real experience of black Americans.Show less
