Team NZINGA Morristown Beard

Greg Tate notes that “Black people live the estrangement that science fiction writers imagine.” Afrofuturism is a practice that combines elements of African mythology, science fiction, African Diaspora history, magic-realism, and political fantasy in black expressive texts across multimedia and artistic forms. Considering an array of practitioners and sources, our unit analyzes how African-Diasporic cultural producers-writers, visual artists, musicians, activists, and filmmakers-use Afrofuturism or an Afrofuturist lens to critique racial asymmetries and to imagine as yet unrealized, free Black futures. It will examine how Black people, during and after slavery, employed imagination, technology, and courage to flee to the "outer spaces of injustice," searching for liberty and autonomy. In addition, we will explore how Black people's futuristic hope provided a lens for others to envision freedom for themselves.