INTERROGATING NIGERIA DIASPORA IMAGINARY IN NNEDI OKORAFOR’S SUNNY AND THE MYSTERIES OF OSISI

Abstract

This essay, engages the concept of a Nigeria Diaspora imaginary as
exemplified in Nnedi Okorafor’s Sunny and the Mysteries of Osisi, an
African science fiction novel. The objective is to isolate a distinct
category of Nigeria diaspora science fiction which speaks to the
idiosyncrasies of the enabling context. This is against the backdrop of
a boom in the genre of African science fiction which has seen many
emerging diaspora writers embracing the form. Hinged on Okorafor’s
postulations of African futurism, the study undertakes a content
analysis and close reading of the purposively selected text, seeking to
demonstrate that, indeed, the Nigeria diaspora imaginary has
emerged as a strand of African science fiction. My argument is that,
in Sunny and the Mysteries of Osisi, the concept of Nigeria diaspora
imaginary is aestheticized through African futurism which is
foregrounded as a manifestation of imagination, rather than history.
I contend that Nigeria diaspora science fiction imagines futures for its
context through a combination of mytho-religious and cultural
metaphors that actualized its identity. This ultimately suggests a
conscious appropriation of science fiction as a form of literary
expression with abiding faith in an African aesthetic.