Current PhD Student

Amirah Muhammad

Thesis Title:

Contemporary Black British Speculative Fiction, the Afterlives of Empire and Black Futures

Supervisor:

Dr Janine Bradbury & Dr Claire Westall

Description:

This doctoral project explores Black British Speculative Fiction, arguing the genre uses Speculative Fiction tropes to represent the afterlives of empire, the contemporary complexities of Blackness, and Black access to futures. This project asserts that we must pay attention to the ways that both Blackness and the afterlives of empire “behave” as entities beyond traditional space-time, using Speculative Fiction as our observational apparatus. While observing Blackness illuminates the ways that Black British and African American Speculative Fiction writers are authoring and accessing Black futures, observing the afterlives of empire shows the pervasive and ever-present structural barriers to this authorship and access.

Considering these opposing forces, this project builds out from comparisons of Speculative Fiction in the UK and the US to demonstrate that it is the relationship between Blackness and the afterlives of empire at fixed points in space and time, and within specific national contexts, which determines the success or failure of authorship and access to Black futures. As such, this project shows that Black British Speculative Fiction raises complex and urgent questions about Black futurity — especially in a British context.

I graduated with a First in BA English and American Literature from Goldsmiths, University of London in 2020. In the same year, I was recognised as a Highly Commended Entrant in Literature by the Global Undergraduate Awards for my essay, ‘Considering the legal and political ramifications of “reconciliation”, what does “reconciliation” mean to Jane Harrison’s Stolen (1998)?’.

I went on to pursue postgraduate study at Goldsmiths, securing a 30% MA Fee-Waiver Bursary awarded by the Department of English and Creative Writing for displaying signs of significant academic potential, distinction, and diligence in prior BA studies. In 2021, I graduated with a Distinction in MA Literary Studies:American Literature and Culture. Later in the year, I presented a paper adapted
from my MA thesis at the Ain’t I A Woman? : The “Black Woman” in Historical and Contemporary Context online conference organised by Dr Angelina Osbourne, Dr Juanita Cox and Dr Elizabeth Williams, and hosted by Goldsmiths.

My doctoral project is fully funded through the York Graduate Research School (YGRS) PhD Scholarship.