Breaking the World

Mann, Justin L.

$28.95

Adding to cart… The item has been added
Author
Mann, Justin L.
Publish Date
03/17/2026
Book Type
Paperback
Publisher Name
DUKE
Subtitle
Black Insecurity and the Horizons of Speculative Fiction
Number of Pages
256
ISBN-10
1478033266
ISBN-13
9781478033264
SKU
9781478033264

Description

"Breaking the World takes Black speculative fiction as a central archive for understanding global security culture from the Reagan administration to the present. Drawing on black feminist, critical race, and queer of color theoretical traditions, Justin L. Mann posits that world-breaking is an ethical and aesthetic orientation to the dangerous, worldmaking process of securitization--the process by which state and parastate agents augment and build up the tools, techniques, and infrastructures intended to make people safer. World-breaking appears in the fiction of Octavia E. Butler, Colson Whitehead, N.K. Jemisin, in the music and video work of Janelle Monae, as well as unexpected places such as the Marvel and DC Cinematic Universes. Breaking the World charts the difference between securitization and "Black insecurity." Linking securitization to mass incarceration and the militarization of policing, Mann contributes to Black feminist and abolitionist conversations that seek an end to institutional and structural violence. Breaking the World emphasizes that world-breaking is an important aspect of the Black radical imagination, showing that speculation is an essential response to the dangerous worlds of securitization"-- Provided by publisher.