In 1954, social science research was being conducted to test what children, Black and white, would choose when presented with options for selecting a doll to play with. The findings were stunning and according to Michele Tracy Berger, professor in the Department of Religious Studies and director of the Baker-Nord Institute for the Humanities, the fact that white dolls were often chosen over Black dolls by either child demonstrated the deleterious effects of racism.
More than 70 years after the experiment, Berger, who as a writer works in speculative fiction, has turned her long-time fascination about the “doll tests” into Doll Seed, which is the title of her debut collection of speculative stories published by Aunt Lute Books.
Speculative fiction is a writing genre that concerns itself with ideas that can’t operate by the physical laws of the universe as we currently know them, encompassing magical realism, paranormal, fantasy, science fiction and horror. Berger is a 2019 winner of the Carl Brandon Kindred Award from the Carl Brandon Society for the title story and has gained a respected reputation in the subgenre of “Afrofuturism,” which is a cultural movement that explores the intersection of Black culture, science and technology.
Berger was gracious enough to share her thoughts on Doll Seed, speculative fiction and Afrofuturism, and how young writers can be brought into the genre.
What was your inspiration for Doll Seed?
I have found it very useful to ask questions about status quo arrangements of power and how we might imagine them differently—especially as it relates to race and gender.
The title story, Doll Seed is an alternate history that imagines the inner life of the dolls that were used in social science research during the 1954 Brown vs. Board of Education Supreme Court case that dismantled legal segregation and I wondered what happened to those dolls after the experiment was over.
That story deals with longing and belonging, identity and community. Many of my other stories in the book have similar themes, including trust and betrayal, family secrets, and sacrifice and freedom.
What do you hope that people will learn from Afrofuturism?
I hope to ignite people’s sense of creativity, imagination and community, inspired by the short story collection. Doll Seed is part of a rich tradition of Afrofuturism that blends the Black literary tradition from Zora Neale Hurston to Walter Mosley and speculative media of the Twilight Zone and Black Mirror.
How can Black speculative influence young writers?
Writers and gamers Milton Davis and Balogun Ojetade wanted to elevate the powerful work of Black creators, and in October 2019, they began Black Speculative Fiction Month, which has increased visibility in popular culture.
Growing up in the 1970s, I had few main characters in books or media that looked like me within genre culture. Young writers and creators of color will never imagine themselves alone in the ways that I did pre-internet, pre-Black geekdom communities, and pre-Black Panther. One of the things that cheers me the most about Afrofuturism and speculative fiction is as creators, we are finding each other and audiences who are hungry for imaginative works that we’ve been wanting to share for a very long time.
How can we close the gap and encourage more underrepresented minorities to become involved in and become writers in speculative fiction?
The first step is to claim our history and revise our timeline. Underrepresented writers and creators have always been on the leading edge of speculative fiction. Scholars have recently discovered that Black public intellectuals like Pauline Hopkins (Of One Blood) and W.E.B. Dubois (The Comet) wrote speculative fiction in the 1900s and other creators were writing about similar topics in the late 1800s. Award-winning writers like N. K. Jemisin, Tananarive Due, Colson Whitehead, Nnedi Okrafor, Rebecca Roanhorse, and Victor Lavelle continue to innovate the field.
What is happening now is that the gatekeepers in publishing, media companies and other creative professions are recognizing the talent that exists and that audiences are hungry for stories that tell a more complete version of our lives.
What sustained you in the process of getting this collection published?
Getting a collection published takes perseverance and belief in one’s work. I started querying publishers about this collection right before the pandemic. I also entered university press competitions where the prize was publication. I received many encouraging personalized rejection letters and honorable mention prizes.
Then the pandemic happened. During the pandemic, many publishers paused acquiring new titles. I continued to refine the collection and add new published stories. Even through rejections, I continued to believe in the project and what I had to offer as a writer.In 2022, I decided I would send the collection out one more time. I saw that Aunt Lute Books was having an open call for novellas and short story collections. This was a rare occurrence. I had taught Aunt Lute’s authors for most of my career in women’s and gender studies.
I appreciated their values that seek to uplift and serve marginalized authors. I sat down and wrote what was probably the best query letter I had ever written. I made a case for my work being a match for them. I sent it off with the requested 10 pages and then held my breath.
Six months later, they asked to see the full manuscript and then two months later they offered me a contract—all eight staff members had read the book and loved it!