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Paper short abstract:

The paper uses space travel as a frame of enquiry, to reinforce the claim for speculative nonconformity in the work of contemporary Zambian artists. It situates aspirations for travel into outer space being nothing new, drawing reference from Mukuka Nkoloso’s Space Programme of the 1960s.

Paper long abstract:

The paper focuses on using both space travel and science fiction as mechanisms, or rather frames of enquiry, to position not only speculative futures, but to reinforce the claim for speculative nonconformity in the work of Zambian artists for the purpose of arguing against African belatedness. It examines to what degree and in what ways metaphors of space travel and science fiction can be used in artistic portrayals that go beyond simplistic tropes and the escalating trends that suggest revived Afrofuturism, in order to delink from Western notions of time and space not only in relation to the arts of Africa. The paper contends that through the analysis of works such as those by Stary Mwaba, Mwenya Kabwe and Milumbe Haimbe that posit Space Travel or images of the Afronaut as central to their thematic content, these artists make bold statements that counter perceptions of Africa as backward. Correspondingly, their works reference the past and stake claims for African life in the future. Furthermore, an analysis of the works in this chapter has at least tried to challenge occidental approaches that limit the framework of the speculative to Western science, technology and philosophy. It makes an attempt to avoid alternative speculative cultural worldviews that may in a way continue to bolster a system where Euro-America, or indeed the global West assumes the hegemonic position with all other participants in science fiction, for instance, being participants of a restrained or conformed perspective.