Wednesday, February 1, 2012

28 Ways of Thinking about Black Studies & Afrofuturism

"The future is neither an uncritical embrace of the past nor a singular conception of what lies ahead. It's ours for the imagining." --Alondra Nelson

Since becoming director of the program in 2007, I have worked to make technology central to the production of Black Studies @ SIUE. A framework known as afrofuturism, which highlights the intersections between race and technology, served as a crucial guiding force in my approaches to organizing certain kinds of projects and recruiting particular contributors.

For the month of February, we take a look at some of the ways that we have utilized a variety of new media, digital humanities, afrofuturist ideas, and concepts related to speculative narratives to expand knowledge about African American history, culture, and ideas. Perhaps black history month is as good a time as any to reflect on how technology and a framework for understanding African American engagements with the future have shaped our work over the past few years.

Entries:
• 1: Afrofuturism
• 2: The Malcolm X Mixtape
• 3: Music
• 4: Graphic Design
• 5: Listening Devices
• 6: The Black Studies Blog
• 7: The Interactive Reading Group
• 8: Mixed Media exhibits
• 9: Audio recordings 
• 10: Past-future visions
• 11: Blogging about Katherine Dunham
• 12: Blogging about Black Women Poets

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