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Abstract
Beloved Communities: Relational Resistance in Contemporary Black Women’s Speculative Fiction analyzes contemporary novels of speculative fiction including Rivers Solomon’s The Deep (2019), Megan Giddings’ Lakewood (2020), N. K. Jemisin’s The City We Became (2020), and P. Djèlí Clark’s Ring Shout (2020). Each of these novels depicts female-centered Black communities who combat injustices through their connection to others, providing a model of resistance that is rooted in relationship. Toni Morrison’s novel Beloved (1987) serves as a vital inspiration for Beloved Communities, displaying self-love and community connection as essential tools which help us to fight injustices. This dissertation suggests that communities in Black speculative fiction, and indeed in our history, are at the heart of resistance movements, offering powerful hope in the bleakest of times. Just as the novels analyzed in this dissertation present community as a critical force that enables individuals to stand against tyranny, these novels of Black speculative fiction also examine the complex histories of exclusion based on race, sex, gender, economic status, and ability. Finally, Beloved Communities highlights the important work achieved through Black women authors of speculative fiction who envision new possibilities through inspired acts of imagination; they remind us that together we can build a better tomorrow if we join in community.