Afrofuturism
The word Afrofuturism is defined as an aesthetic, flourishing movement that envisions the future for the people of color. The term was developed and coined by Mark Dery in 1994 when he wrote his “Black to the Future” essay, which points out the small representation of people of color in science fiction. The importance of this movement is its ability to connect those with African diaspora to each other, its ability to spread awareness of marginalized groups in science fiction, and it furthermore gives a voice to people of color in science fiction. In modern times, the science fiction genre blurs out the presence of people of color, and science fiction mostly contains a white dominating community. The white dominating community keeps itself quiet by not mentioning the racism in science fiction and hinders the goals of Afrofuturism.
And by presenting racism as an insanity that burned itself out, or as the obvious folly of the ignorant and impoverished who would be left behind by the genre’s brave new futures, sf avoids confronting the structures of racism and its own complicity in them. (p. 180)
Mark Bould, the writer of Ships Landed Long Ago: Afrofuturism and Black, confronts his audience with a problem in this quote: There is implicit biasness and no racial discussion in science fiction. The genre itself presents many different scientific, futuristic ideas to broaden the spectrum of science fiction, yet while doing this, the white dominated community sweeps the people of color under the rug as if the discussion of racism pulls science fiction back. In the video Afrofuturism mixes sci-fi and social justice. Here’s how it works, the narrator points out that science fiction is often seen in a white lens, and the top science fiction fantasy films barely include films that have non-white protagonists. This idea definitely connects with another quote from Bould’s piece: “Whatever their intentions, sf’s color-blind future was concocted by whites and excluded people of color as full subjects” (p. 177). By excluding people of color, science fiction idealizes racism and silences those outside of the white community.
Bould addresses his audience about Lucas, a black character in the Marvel Comics Luke Cage from the 1970s who was falsely imprisoned for a crime. He symbolizes the alienated black identity. His character falls under the stereotype of black masculinity, and his readers tend to only note his incredible strength rather than his intelligence even though he outsmarts his opponents. Lucas matches his last name because he is caged into a stereotype, and he was not given any special attention to his character. Luckily, it is no longer the 1970s. Today’s science fiction, although still flawed, mentions more about the concepts of Afrofuturism.
The movement of Afrofuturism has progressed with one of Marvel’s successful movies with people of color representation, Black Panther. The protagonist inspired the film’s audience that people of color can be super heroes, leaders, and major voices too. Black Panther beautifully portrayed the culture of Africans and did not force stereotypes like Lucas in the Marvel Comics. This is an example of a good “Afrofuture,” and I hope the movement progresses and advances so that the white lens in science fiction can be turned into multiple different colors outside of just white.
References
- Barton, G., Massie, V., & Posner, J. (n.d.). Afrofuturism mixes sci-fi and social justice. Here’s how it works. Retrieved November 15, 2020, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlPwTMMhGGI
- Bould, M. (2007). The Ships Landed Long Ago: Afrofuturism and Black SF. Science Fiction Studies, 34(2), 177–186.
