Emergent Bodies: Rethinking Race and Racialization Through Materialities

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Notes

1 Afrofuturism is a type of speculative fabulation that addresses concerns shaped by the African diaspora and (re)envisions Black futures. It combines science fiction with history to explore experiences and contemporary conversations about race, technology, and culture. Artists traverse many disciplines and include Ellen Gallagher, Wangechi Mutu, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Nick Cave, Mickalene Thomas, Octavia Butler, Sun Ra, and George Clinton, just to name a few. The movie Black Panther is a popular example of Afrofuturism, in which the story imagines a Black protagonist who plays a leading role in a battle for leadership and self-determination, and who is both the Black Panther who gained superhuman powers by eating an indigenous herb, and king of Wakanda, an African nation rich in resources and scientific accomplishments. The character and his country have the power to change the world but face internal and external threats to their autonomy and sovereignty.