*Fair warning: at least twelve of the books I read in the next few months are going to be for my Afrofuturism class. ➽The emphasis on how this has always existed, and the history of people such as Sun Ra ➽Janelle Monae having an entire section of her own (as she deserves) ➽The questioning of why we actually think of aliens as “bad” ➽The idea of technology and aliens as a good rather than an evil ➽The idea of science fiction being, in some cases, less traumatic than the actual past of black people Some things that I liked about this framing: Where there is no vision, the people perish. It is the prism through which some create their way of life.

It is the collective weighted belief that anchors the aesthetic. Imagination, hope, and the expectation for transformative change is a through line that undergirds most Afrofuturistic art, literature, music, and criticism. Womack argues that Afrofuturism uses hope to counter the hopelessness that experiences of systematic racism can bring forth in future generations. Overall, a solid introduction to the history of Afrofuturism, the themes that often appear in Afrofuturistic texts, and its future. She received her B.A in Mass Media Arts from Clark Atlanta University and studied Arts, Entertainment and Media Management at Columbia College in Chicago. A social media and pop culture expert, she frequently consults and guest lectures for corporations and universities across the world. She also co-edited the anthology Beats, Rhymes and Life: What We Love and Hate About Hip Hop.Ī Chicago native, her film projects include The Engagement (director) and Love Shorts (producer/writer). Her other books include the critically acclaimed Post Black: How a New Generation is Redefining African American Identity, a popular cultural studies text universities across the US, and her most recent work Afrofuturism: The World of Black Sci Fi and Fantasy Culture. She is author/creator of the popfuturist/afrofuturist novel 2212:Book of Rayla, first of the groundbreaking Rayla 2212 series. Womack is an award-winning filmmaker/author/journalist and choreographer.

Afrofuturism by Ytasha L. Womack