Topics in African-American Studies (380-0-26)

Topic

Afrofuturism: Race, Technology and Liberation

Instructors

Thomas Faburn DeFrantz

Meeting Info

Kresge Centennial Hall 4-410: Tues 2:00PM - 4:50PM

Overview of class

Explores AfroFuturism, a literary and cultural aesthetic demonstrating/imagining how people of color project ourselves into narratives of the future. Investigation of speculative fiction, fantasy literature, sound cultures, artworks, music videos, and dance to trace the concept of an AfroFuturist point of view. Creation of AfroFuturist media and performances. Artists considered include writers Samuel R. Delany and Andrea Hairston; musicians Parliament-Funkadelic and Sun Ra; filmmaker Hype Williams; performers Janelle Monae and Flying Lotus.

The course is arranged around disciplinary rhetorics of sound, literature, performance, and visual cultures. Together we will read several texts together and consider their contents and contexts. Creative exercises or writing exercises will be spread throughout the semester. At least one of these exercises should be executed in a small group, as demonstration of an ensemble of collective action and shared study. As a final offering, students will produce either a research paper of 15-20 pages length, or a performance/media object of significant complexity as a final outcome of coursework.

Class Materials (Required)

Mary Caton Lingold, 2023, African Musicians in the Atlantic World (University of Virginia Press)

Gutherie P. Ramsey, 2004, Race Music: Black Cultures from Bebop to Hip-Hop (University of California Press)

Maureen Mahon, 2004, Right to Rock: The Black Rock Coalition and the Cultural Politics of Race (Duke University Press)