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The North Africa Series is a sequence of science fiction near-future stories by Dallas McCord "Mack" Reynolds set in North Africa. It is comprised of Black Man's Burden (novella; 1961-2), Border, Breed nor Birth (novella; 1962), "Black Sheep Astray" (short story; 1973), and The Best Ye Breed (novella; 1978). The series has been called a "notable exception" to the indirect treatment of racial issues in 1960s and 70s science fiction magazines.

Black Man's Burden
Posing as low-caste itinerant smiths selling wares, the all-black fieldworkers of the Reunited Nations team led by Homer Crawford travel the Sahara subtly subverting the culture of its nomad tribes by disseminating "progressive" Western propaganda such as the right to equality, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness with the long-term objective of leading North Africa into the modern age. Knowing the peoples they encounter may label their teachings as blasphemous, the fieldworkers attribute them to El Hassan, an imaginary leader who has incorporated the wisdom of all the sages and prophets of the world. On their way back from working at a Tuareg encampment, the fieldworkers are attacked by an Arab Union convoy trespassing on Reunited Nations territory and, in defending themselves, kill all the Arab troopers. The team then proceeds to a council of nomad tribes with the intention of arresting one of its leaders, Adb-el-Kader, for ordering raids on Reunited Nations projects, and find that Adb-el-Kader is now inciting the rest of the clans to bloody rebellion. Homer Crawford challenges Adb-el-Kader to a sword duel, disables him with a judo move, and arrests him.

Next, Crawford's team travels to Timbuktu to attend a conference with other all-black teams providing foreign aid in North Africa. There, Crawford makes a case for cooperation across teams regardless of political or national background based on the fact that all the fieldworkers are of African descent and so are deeply invested in helping to advance Africa. Some fieldworkers, including Isobel Cunningham, Jake Armstrong, and Cliff Jackson of the Africa for Africans Association (AFAA) and the British agent Rex Donaldson are in favor of such coordination. Others, including a C.I.A. operative Fred Ostrander, object strongly to it. After the meeting is adjourned, Isobel and Homer discuss the points presented at the meeting with Homer admitting that their dissemination of Western ideology will ultimately destroy the present North African cultures, but that their work must continue so that Africa does not become a liability to the world. As they take a stroll, a sniper on a minaret attempts to assassinate Homer and seemingly gets away.

Crawford's team is sent to Mopti to diffuse a demonstration for El Hassan. The AFAA fieldworkers tag along to observe their tactics. On the way, Homer and Isobel are perturbed by the realization that what the fieldwork of foreign aid organizations is equivalent to the white men's destruction of indigenous cultures in North America. After the job at Mopti, Homer leaves with his second-in-command, Abe Baker, for Dakar, where Homer thwarts a second assassination attempt: this time, his brandy has been laced with cyanide. At headquarters, his team is given a new assignment: to locate the mysterious subversive El Hassan so the Reunited Nations can back him as a figure under which North Africans can unite. Unsure about how to proceed, Homer requests some time to consider the mission and confers with Abe and Isobel. Abe attempts to convince Homer that he is the natural choice to become El Hassan; he then then announces he is a Party member of the Soviet Complex and that he would like Homer to secretly become one, causing Homer to realize that Abe is his would-be assassin. Once exposed, Abe attempts to kill Homer. Isobel is revealed to be a Party member of the Soviet Complex also, but she refuses to help Abe kill Homer. Homer, unwillingly, kills Abe with a karate blow to the windpipe. Isobel pledges herself to Homer as the first follower El Hassan and is given the mission to convert Jake Armstrong and Cliff Jackson to the cause.

Recurring Characters

 * Homer Crawford (a.k.a Omar ben Crawf, El Hassan): the charismatic leader of the Reunited Nations African Development Project, Sahara Division team. He is an American black with a Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Michigan and an ex-Marine. He speaks Arabic, French, Tamabeq, Songhai, and Swahili. His sincerity, competence, and intelligence XXX Something about becoming El Hassan.
 * Abraham "Abe" Baker (a.k.a Abrahim el Bakr): a member of Crawford's team and his right-hand man in Black Man's Burden. He is an American black, a graduate of Columbia University, and a weapons expert. He is later revealed to be a Party member of the Soviet Complex.
 * Bey-ag-Akhamouk: a member of Crawford's team. He is an African of Tuareg background who was taken to the United States at an early age, where he became an American citizen and graduated from the University of Minnesota with a degree in Political Science.
 * Ellmer Allen (a.k.a El Ma el Ainin): a member of Crawford's team. A Jamaican black with a Masters in Sociology from the University of Kingston, and a pacifist.
 * Kenneth "Kenny" Ballalou (a.k.a. Keni Ballalou): a member of Crawford's team. He is an American black from San Francisco; he speaks multiple languages.
 * Isobel Cunningham (a.k.a. Izubahil): a member of the Africa for Africans Association (AFFA). An American black who looks like Lena Horne, she graduated from Columbia university with a degree in Anthropology major and speaks Arabic and Songhoi.
 * Clifford "Cliff" Jackson: a member of the AFFA. An American black, he looks like Joe Louis.
 * Jake Armstrong: a member of the AFFA. An American black.
 * Fred Ostrander: a black C.I.A. operative.
 * Dr. Warren Harding Smythe: a black American, head of American Medical Relief.
 * Rex Donaldson (a.k.a. Dolo Anah): a fieldworker of the British Commonwealth African Department. A black citizen of the Bahamas who speaks Dogon, he is considered a "witchman" by the tribes he visits in his helio-hopper.
 * the leader of the Ouled Toumaeur warrior clan unifying the Chaambra and
 * Ralph Sandell, Reunited Nations Sahara Afforestation Project
 * Pierre Dupain, African Affairs French community

Race
As the Civil Rights movement began in the 1950s and reached its first climactic phase in the 1960s, several notable futuristic fantasies of race relations were produced by mainstream writers, "their subject matter was entirely new to the sf of the day" (Stableford 38)

"The first two novels in this series suffered the disadvantage of not appearing in book form until they were out of date" (Stableford 38). However, they also reproduce racial stereotypes. "in the sf imagination Africa evokes as sense of primitivism" (Lavender 188. The Routledge Companion to Science Fiction Ed. Bould, Mark et al.)

The black man's burden
The titles of both Black Man's Burden and The Best Ye Breed, as well the epigram to Black Man's Burden ("Take up the white man's burden/Send forth the best ye breed...") indicate that the series is a play on the message of Ruyard Kipling's poem "The White Man's Burden." Kipling wrote the poem for Queen Victoria's Jubilee in 1897, and then revised it as a response "to resistance in the Philippines to the United States' assumption of colonial power" after the Spanish-American War of 1898. By having its black protagonists take up the responsibility of fomenting economic and technological progress in the underdeveloped regions of North Africa, Reynolds' series subverts Kipling's description of colonial government as " the white man's burden."

Utopia
I'm a sociologist, Isobel. I suppose I seek Utopia. There is always the search for it. It's a goal that recedes as you approach, which is as should be. heaven help mankind if we ever achieve it; we'll be through because there will be no place to go, and man needs to strive. BMB

Black Man's Burden and Border, Breed nor Birth
Both novellas were originally published as two-part series in Analog Science Fact & Fiction: Black Man's Burden in December 1961 and January 1962; Border, Breed nor Birth in July and August 1962. In 1972, Ace Books reprinted both as part of its Ace Double series which features a tête-bêche format (ACE Numbers 06612 and 06612b). The first two words in Black Man's Burden title were combined, creating the modified title: Blackman's Burden.

The Best Ye Breed
Ace Books published The Best Ye Breed as "the third in the fabulous North African trilogy" in 1978.