Afrofuturism and Society: Music, Media,

An aesthetic, perspective, and practice, Afrofuturism places Afro-diasporic peoples at the center of science-fiction and speculative narratives, affording Black people narrative agency over their past, present, and future. Afrofuturism exists as an essential site for the interrogation and celebration of Black life, while also serving as a thoughtful critique of anti-Black sentiments and white supremacy. This course will familiarize students with the historical underpinnings, contexts, and both seminal and contemporary works that are a part of the movement and which situate Afrofuturism as part of a larger socio-cultural discourse on race, creativity, and activism. We will be discussing Afrofuturism’s historical and socio-cultural positionality, but will also ask: in the midst of global anti-Blackness, the post-Trump era, a pandemic, and the era of Black Lives Matter, where does Afrofuturism fit in the existing discourse?