The Peculiar Institution: The Depiction of Slavery in Steven Barnes’s Lion’s Blood and Zulu Heart
Date
2016-03-11
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Lexington Books
Abstract
Steven Barnes’s Lion’s Blood (2002) and its sequel Zulu Heart (2003) combine Africa, Islam and Muslims to show positive and negative sides of what would have happened if whites were the enslaved and blacks were the slave owners in an alternative North America, a divided country called Bilalstan tenuously ruled by African Muslims, Zulus, Arabs, Aztecs, Vikings and Indians. Barnes two central characters, one a Muslim slave owner, Kai ibn Rashid and one an Irish slave boy, Aidan O’Dere who through the development of their friendship, challenge the system of slavery. Subplots include romance, political intrigue, and Sufi mysticism. Philosophical discussions on martial arts, religion, family and power are interwoven throughout these stories.
Description
Keywords
Africana Studies, Islam, Science fiction, Muslim, Fantasy, alternate universe, slavery
Citation
Hankins, Rebecca. The Peculiar Institution: The Depiction of Slavery in Steven Barnes’s Lion’s Blood and Zulu Heart for an edited volume by Dr. James L. Conyers, Jr. and Dr. Abul Pitre titled Africana Islamic Studies by Lexington Books, March 11, 2016.