Unspoken Afrofuturists
Author
Mawena Yehouessi

In ‘The Shadows Took Shape’ exhibition catalog essay, Alondra Nelson wrote that “in the zeal for a liberatory detour, Afrofuturism [has come] to be more likely embodied by Sun Ra, George Clinton, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Ralph Ellison, and ‘The Brother from Another Planet’” than by women like LaBelle, Ellen Gallagher, Laila Ali, Jewelle Gomez, and Nyota Uhura. [While] queerness (in the broadest sense) of past-future visionaries such as Samuel R. Delany, Octavia E. Butler, and Nalo Hopkinson too often goes unappreciated as a central feature of black futurist aesthetics.

 Mark Dery recommends :

“Black in the future : how women in pop are carrying the mantle of afrofuturism”

Whatever Nalo Hopkinson is up to.

Afrofuturism: The World of Black Sci-Fi and Fantasy Culture, by Ytasha L. Womack (2013).“a useful introduction for the general reader.”

Octavia’s Brood: Science Fiction Stories from Social Justice Movements, by Walidah Imarisha and Adrienne Maree Brown (2015).

Dark Matter: A Century of Speculative Fiction from the African Diaspora, by Sheree R. Thomas (2000).“an older title, but more relevant than ever.” 

“Afrofuturism/Chicanafuturism: Fictive Kin”, an article by Catherine S. Ramírez (2008). “the first critical/theoretical foray into the philosophical border zone of the emerging Xicano/a and Latino/a futurismos that are following Afrofuturism’s lead, exploring the politics of science and technology, and representations of science and technology, from a brown perspective”

The “Shadows Took Shape” art exhibition at the Studio Museum of Harlem, in New York (nov 2013 – mar 2014) ;

This brilliant exercise in social critique and the archaeology of ideas by Greg Tate

 Artwork :

M.Y. pour B(s)ttF

Author

Mawena Yehouessi
Diplomée de Philosophie puis Gestion de Projets Culturels, Mawena fait ses premières armes dans les milieux de l’art contemporain tout en menant de front divers projets : soirées, édition, collectifs artistiques… Fondatrice et directrice de Black(s) to the Future, son objectif est simple : mettre en lumière la part « afro » du monde et performer le futur. | www.mawenayehouessi.fr // @ma.wena
All the team

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