Dark Speculative Futurity and the Rise of Neo-Nationalism

Dr Reynaldo Anderson's lecture from Tohu Magazine conference - Space is the Place: Afrofuturism, Arabfuturism and the Search for New Dimensions

 

The music and cultural production of the avant-garde bandleader Sun Ra emerged during the post-World War II years of technocratic innovation and anti-colonial and anti-racist struggle in North America. His body of work and other creative intellectuals would largely influence the emergence of Afrofuturism. Afrofuturism is a concept originating from the African diaspora in North America, slowly being embraced by Africa, its larger diaspora, and by non-African adherents. It is now a transnational, diasporic, and cultural worldview that interrogates the past, present, and future in the humanities, sciences, and religion. Along with Afrofuturism, other contemporary futurity formations such as Arabfuturism and indigenous futurity are maturing  - emerging as a speculative locus of critical inquiry in the areas of alienation, racism, urbanization, resource depletion, technology, exploitation, bourgeois ideology, and Eurocentrism.

All lectures from the conference