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Afrofuturism

 

My first point of contact with the genre of Afrofuturism was without knowing listening to Janelle Monáe’s album “Dirty Computer” in 2018. This album truly traveled with me as one of the only few “pop”-like albums through those last years. After the guest lecture by Erik Steinskog, I definitely noticed the influences of former Afrofuturistic artists.

            Steinskog described that Afrofuturism kind of intersections science-fiction as well as cultural studies. In addition, he explains that science-fiction is actually more so about the present than the future as science-fiction tries to tell us something about the present through the lens of the future. Hence, Afrofuturism drawn from the terminology tells us in particular something about black people in the present by giving hope of a better future. Skeinskog additionally clarified how the imagery of typical science-fiction stories is basically what has happened with black people in slavery: “Aliens” kidnapped black people and brought them to a “foreign planet.” The slavery experiences are basically real-life science fiction and the science fiction utopia showcases the reality after slavery. For me, a rather privileged white cis-woman, this imagery is wild but by listening to Monàe’s album again and now knowing to what to pay attention to, I feel like, I begin to understand some parts of this genre. The multilayered aesthetic of Afrofuturism manages to critize not only historical but also nowadays dilemmas of Black people and Indigenous People of Color (BIPoC) on a truly unique way. Looking only shortly into only a few facets of this topic, I am stunned. This music is addressed and also needs an audience in order to function how supposed to and like in other topics regarding racism I, as a white scholar, need to listen to those affected by racism and question my own. I can be an alley by helping to shed light onto those who are “experts” in this field (racism) and learn from them. The genre of Afrofuturism addresses the experiences of the black community like no other.

 

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