Afrofuturism

My fascination with the gaggle of post- prefixes that overwhelmed our vocabulary in the twenty-first century came from a seminar that I had the pleasure of taking in 2008. The literature, discussions, and the outpouring of wisdom from my professor had a profound effect on the undergrad ideas floating around in my head and shaped my research...

Thanks, Dr. AAO.

My major line of inquiry in graduate school is Afrofuturism. There are several definitions and cultural manifestations of Afrofuturism, but in my art historical research I define it as a postmodern articulation of race that addresses blackness in this post-racial, political, and cultural moment. Afrofuturism creates a timeless space to to reconcile posts- related issues of racial identity. This page is a resource for me to collect as many resources as I can for my dissertation and possibly help my fellow cohorts who are specializing in Afrofuturism.

Reading List:

Archer Straw, Petrine, Tanya Barson, Peter Gorschlüter and Liverpool Tate Gallery. Afro Modern: Journeys through the Black Atlantic. Liverpool London: Tate Liverpool ; In association with Tate Publishing ; Distributed in the USA by Harry N. Abrams, 2010.

Barr, Marlene S., ed. Afrofuture Females: Black Writers Chart Science Fiction's Newest New-Wave Trajectory. Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 2008.

Bould, Mark. "The Ships Landed Long Ago: Afrofuturism and Black Sf." Science Fiction Studies 34, no. 2 (2007): 177-186.

Bristow, Tegan. "We Want the Funk: What Is Afrofuturism to the Situation of Digital Arts in Africa?" Technoetic Arts: A Journal of Speculative Research10, no. 1 (2012): 25-32.

David, Marlo. "Afrofuturism and Post-Soul Possibility in Black Popular Music." African American Review 41, no. 4 (2007): 695-707.

Dery, Mark. "Black to the Future: Interviews with Samuel Delaney, Greg Tate, and Tricia Rose." The South Atlantic Quarterly 92, no. 4 (1993): 735-778.

Eshun, Kodwo. More Brilliant Than the Sun : Adventures in Sonic Fiction. London: Quartet Books, 1998.

Eshun, Kodwo. ""Further Considerations on Afrofuturism"." The New Centennial Review 3, no. 2 (2003): 287-302.

Gilroy, Paul. The Black Atlantic : Modernity and Double Consciousness. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1993.

Gilroy, Paul. Against Race : Imagining Political Culture Beyond the Color Line. Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2000.

Golden, Thelma, Harlem Studio Museum in and Hamza Walker. Freestyle. New York, NY: The Studio Museum in Harlem, 2001.

Griffith, Rollefson. J. "The "Robot Voodoo Power" Thesis: Afrofuturism and Anti-Anti-Essentialism from Sun Ra to Kool Keith." Black Music Research Journal 28, no. 1 (2008): 83-109.

Hamilton, Elizabeth C. "Analog Girls in a Digital World: Fatimah Tuggar’s Afrofuturist Intervention in the Politics of “Traditional” African Art."Nka Journal of Contemporary African Art 33, (2013): 70-79.

Hicks, Cinqué. "Circuit Jamming." International Review of African American Art 23, no. 3 (2011): 2-8.

Hobson, Janell. "Digital Whiteness, Primitive Blackness: Racializing The "Digital Divide" In Film and Media." Feminist Media Studies 8, no. 2 (2008): 111-126.

Hubert, François-Xavier. "Welcome to the Afterfuture. (French)." Art-Press, (2000): 50-55.

Jackson, Sandra and Julie Moody-Freeman. "The Genre of Science Fiction and Black Imagination." African Identities 7, no. 2 (May 2009): 127-132.

Keith, Naima J. and Zoe Whitley, eds. The Shadows Took Shape. New York: The Studio Museum in Harlem, 2013.

Mayer, Ruth. ""Africa as Alien Future:" The Middle Passage, Afrofuturis, and Postcolonial Waterworlds." Amerikastudien 45, no. 4 (2000): 555-566.

Nelson, Alondra. "Afrofuturism: Past-Future Vision." Colorlines 3, no. 1 (2000).

Nelson, Alondra, Guest ed. "Afrofuturism." Social Text 20, no. 2 (Summer 2002).

Ongiri, Amy Abugo. Spectacular Blackness: The Cultural Politics of the Black Power Movement and the Search for a Black Aesthetic. Charlottesville and London: University of Virginia Press, 2010.

Ramírez, Catherine S. "Afrofuturism/Chicanafuturism: Fictive Kin." Aztlan, Spring2008 2008, 185-194.

Richardson, Jared. "Attack of the Boogeywoman: Visualizing Black Women's Grotesquerie in Afrofuturism." Art Papers Magazine 36, no. 6 (2012): 18-22.

Thomas, Sheree R. Dark Matter : A Century of Speculative Fiction from the African Diaspora. New York: Warner Books, 2000.

White, Michelle-Lee, Keith Piper, Alondra Nelson, Arnold J. Kemp and Erika Dalya. "Afrotech and Outer Spaces." Art Journal 60, no. 3 (2001): 91-104.

Yaszek, Lisa. "An Afrofuturist Reading of Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man." Rethinking History 9, no. 2/3 (2005): 297-313.

Yaszek, Lisa. "Afrofuturism, Science Fiction, and the History of the Future." Socialism & Democracy 20, no. 3 (2006): 41-60.

A New Project by Ytasha Womack :

Riffing on the Real
2011 Exhibition featuring artists of diverse media and backgrounds at the Tubman African American Museum curated by Director of Exhibitions Jeffrey Bruce.
The following is a video introduction :

Here I am at Riffing on the Real in front of  BrotherMan: Dictator of Discipline a character created by Dawad Anyabwile and Guy A. Sims. The realm of comic book art is just one iteration of Afrofuturism, because comics are steeped fantasy and often deal with AfAm history in timeless scenarios.   

The story summary from the website reads:

Born from the fire of his father and the passion of his mother, Antonio Valor, forged a commitment to bringing a new justice to Big City. Brotherman: Dictator of Discipline is the continuing story of a man drawn deeper into the darkness to bring light to those who have lost all hope. Armed only with his strength, wit, intellect, and his drive, Antonio Valor, straddles the line of being both the keeper and dispenser of the law. Supported by a sprinkling of friends, colleagues, and confidants, the residents of Big City can begin to find peace in a place under siege. As it is written on the subway walls, “He’s here…and everything’s gonna be alright!” (GET THE WHOLE STORY & BUY THE SERIES)

SisterWoman? Maybe? Nah...

An excellent definition of Afrofuturism from Professor Alondra Nelson:


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