Afro-futurism


Afro-futurism


I was first exposed to afro-futurism whilst attending an art exhibit at the Los Angeles MOCA (Museum of Contemporary Art) last summer 2017. My friend and I were looking at a series of paintings featuring a Black girl with afro puffs standing on an Africa-shaped land mass in outer space (sadly, I do not remember the title or artist, if someone finds out please comment them on this post). My friend commented "Afro-futurism" and I thought that this was an interesting take and then forgot about it. I came across afro-futurism again while watching Black Panther. A huge part of the reason why I love Black Panther is because of its' display of afro-futurism: showing images of African landscapes, people/clothing, and objects alongside futuristic imagery. I loved it because Black Panther was not only a good representation of Black people, but also a good representation of African people in the Western media, something that is unprecedented. I was overjoyed to see an homage to my and other African peoples' cultures uplifted and celebrated on the big screen. It saddened me that the U.S. media/Hollywood is powerful enough to change public opinion and perceptions about a group of people/cultures/a continent so easily and that what it projects about Africa and Blackness reaches people all over the globe. 

Seeing aspects of my culture on screen made me feel good because it was like seeing myself on screen and depicted as beautiful. Afro-futurism resonates with me because it implies that Blackness is the future and that the future belongs to Black people after centuries of oppression. I especially liked Black Panther's flavor of afro-futurism because it implied that African peoples can retain their cultures and ancient traditions and seamlessly incorporate them into an advancing world. So much of the negative imagery and messaging around Africa in the media lambasts it and African people for being undeveloped, primitive, backwards, savages that aren't as economically and technologically advanced as Western nations. I have recently begun to unpack Western supremacy through this blog and challenge the notion that Western civilization is superior to the lifestyles, cultures and traditions of people living in rural, relatively poor, villages in so-called "third world" countries. It is ironic to me that a civilization created by colonialism, human trafficking (the trans-Atlantic slave trade), ongoing corporate exploitation of Global South countries (see technology and clothing sweatshops) and environmental degradation is seen as superior to indigenous, rural people and traditions. 

I identify with afro-futurism on a personal level because of my identity as a Third Culture, hyphenated Ethiopian-American woman. I see myself as a blend of Ethiopian and American cultural traits and sometimes I am even able to choose which parts of each culture I take on. In this way, I want to retain my Ethiopian culture while also building on it to help create diasporic, global knowledge and understandings that all Ethiopians can pull from. As I discussed in my last blog post, Black Feminist Society, my goal is to create culturally-competent ways of ending gendered violence and discrimination against LGBTQIA individuals and differently-abled people. I want to add onto my culture's values of inclusivity and accessibility for all; still fundamentally African while seamlessly incorporating new knowledge.  



Hyphenated Ethiopian third culture kid. Twitter: @moonchereka

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