Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds

Speculative fiction is a broad literary genre characterized by its imaginative and speculative nature. It often presents narratives set in entirely new societies or reimagined worlds or universes, at times including fantastical or advanced technological elements. Some of its famous subgenres include science fiction, visionary fiction, and fantasy. brown’s most significant contact with the speculative fiction field is through the work of science fiction writer Octavia Butler. Butler’s grappling with key social issues and her choice to center gender and the Black experience in her stories earned her a space in the speculative fiction canon. Due to that, she is usually regarded as one of the most prominent Afrofuturist writers, a cultural, artistic, and literary movement that reimagines the potential for Black liberation.

In Emergent Strategy, speculative fiction and Butler’s influence inspired brown to envision imagination as a vital tool in the pursuit of social justice and transformative change. Butler’s narratives prompted brown to notice the profound connection between creative outlets and social justice work. In collaboration with author Walidah Imarisha, brown came up with the premise that “All organizing is science fiction” (158), recognizing the relevant role dreaming and speculating have in both fields.