In expressing the ‘unique set of imaginative possibilities’ (Dubey 2010, 779) that speculative fiction presents to people of African descent, Walter Mosley identifies science fiction as a genre that offers ‘an alternative where that which deviates from the norm is the norm’ (Mosley 2000, location 6792). The exploration of divergent realities and the disruption of normative frameworks are central tenets of science fiction, establishing it as ‘a literary genre made to rail against the status quo’ (Mosley 2000, location 6800). It provides a platform through which global inequalities can be challenged and oppressive structures dismantled. Science fiction and other associated genres present a paradigm through which communities who have endured subjugation can reclaim their narrative. The historical ruptures experienced by African- Americans, born out of the forced removal and enslavement of African people in the New World, left a populace ‘cut off from their African ancestry by the scythe of slavery and from an American heritage by being excluded from history’ (Mosley 2000, location 6792). It is from the position of a historically displaced people that Mosley explores the transformative potential of science fiction in its ability to revise histories and rearticulate futures through ‘changing the logic, empowering the disenfranchised, or simply by asking, What if?’ (Mosley 2000, location 68187). In recognition of its suitability to the expression of alternative realities and possibilities for people of African descent, Mosley has proclaimed that ‘sciencefiction writers have become our most important writers’ (Mosley 2015).

Walter Mosley's assessment of speculative fiction's capacity to confront and contest jaundiced images of people of African descent lies in its ability to subvert dominant narratives and recalibrate normative constructs. Mosley locates the black reader within the struggle for global transformation, describing the ‘power to imagine’ as ‘the first step in changing the world’. In this way, the act of writing and reading science fiction is inherently political; undertaken ‘every day by young, and not so young, black readers who crave a vision that will shout down the realism imprisoning us behind a wall of alienating culture’ (Mosley 2000, location 6804). Mosley identifies science fiction as a genre through which African-Americans can engage in the discourse of historiography and representation and challenge Euro-American hegemony