What Does The Afrofuture Say?
It was still early in the quarantine here in Johannesburg, but COVID-19 was rapidly spreading in Detroit, my hometown, and where my mother lives. I remember when the rumor of the first case was reported in Detroit. It was almost two months after the virus’ arrival in the United States, did Detroit have its first case documented. Then people began dying. It was a shock to Detroit’s core. My timeline became a string of memorials. My beloved Motor City became a microcosm of what was happening across the nation. Black people were dying at disproportionate rates. It felt like our futures were racing to a halt.
The alarm was sounded — we needed to hear from the Afrofuturists. We needed to be reminded of Black futures, Black dreams, ancestral power, and our ability to innovate. What Does The Afrofuture Say? was born.
At first, I just wanted casual check-ins with these brilliant minds on Instagram Live and then people asked for the recording, which Instagram would not do for me. After about two weeks of live IG chats and shoddy internet connections, I decided to pause and switch platforms. The conversations are now recorded live on Zoom and stored on YouTube. They’ve become an archive of Afrofuturists and Afrofuture thinkers who dive into theories about the now and visions of a post-pandemic world. We also discuss how their work has transformed as a result of this new life of quarantining. Each guest offers wisdom that provides the kind of balm our soul needs during this time of uncertainty.
Why the Afrofuturists?
Afrofuturists are scientists, artists, alchemists, writers, technologists, designers, chefs, architects, mystics, urban planners, farmers, scholars, shamans, doctors, poets, engineers, choreographers, lawyers, and teachers who imagine abundant futures for Black bodies and actively pursue that vision into reality.
Afrofuturists offer inspiration and direction for our imagination. Black death has taken over the news, and honestly, my mind. It can be hard to imagine Black American futures when the media is focused on Black people dying, either en masse because of COVID-19 or by the hands of racists. Afrofuturists map a new trajectory and offer strategies for attaining it. Afrofuturists refer to and incorporate arts, culture, and spiritual practices in the building of this future. The strategy is analytic and also liberating where the whole self is invited to co-create the path forward.
What have I learned?
Simply, we have the power to make things better for Black bodies. We have the abilities, skills, foresight to reshape our world. In one episode, Dr. Nettrice Gaskins stated, “there was never a normal”, and that it’s time to institute the techno-vernacular creativity that Amiri Baraka refers to in his 1971 essay Technology & Ethos. She also explained how an algorithm based on funk music creates visual patterns that are similar to Gees Band quilts and African Kuba textiles. Dr. Gaskins reminded us that the past organically resides in the DNA of Black people and that it will always be shaping our present. Filmmaker Don V.C. told us that our Blackness is a technology and poet Junauda Petrus-Nasah brought into focus “queer divinity” and how eternally intertwined it is in African diasporic culture. Performance artist and designer D. Denenge Akpem showed us what “survival sexy” looks like. Documenting the diversity of Afrofuturism has been soul-satisfying work. Each conversation has become part of my healing ritual. It is the wisdom of the Afrofuturists that will keep us at peace, balanced, and inspired as we give birth to this new world.
The series continues. Conversations take place live on Zoom weekdays at 12 pm and the recordings can be found on The Afrofuture Strategies Institute YouTube channel. Find out more at www.afrofuturestrategies.com/cultivate. Welcome to the Afrofuture.
