Critical Black Futures imagines worlds, afrofutures, cities, bodies, art and eras that are simultaneously distant, parallel, present, counter, and perpetually materializing. From an exploration of W. E. B. Du Bois’ own afrofuturistic short stories, to trans* super fluid blackness, this volume challenges readers—community leaders, academics, communities, and creatives—to push further into surreal imaginations. Beyond what some might question as the absurd, this book is presented as a speculative space that looks deeply into the foundations of human belief. Diving deep into this notional rabbit hole, each contributor offers a thorough excursion into the imagination to discover ‘what was’, while also providing tools to push further into the ‘not yet’.
Critical Black Futures imagines worlds, afrofutures, cities, bodies, art and eras that are simultaneously distant, parallel, present, counter, and perpetually materializing. From an exploration of W. E. B. Du Bois’ own afrofuturistic short stories, to trans* super fluid blackness, this volume challenges readers—community leaders, academics, communities, and creatives—to push further into surreal imaginations. Beyond what some might question as the absurd, this book is presented as a speculative space that looks deeply into the foundations of human belief. Diving deep into this notional rabbit hole, each contributor offers a thorough excursion into the imagination to discover ‘what was’, while also providing tools to push further into the ‘not yet’.
Uniquely incorporates queer, feminist, metahumanist, posthumanist, technological, scientific, mathematical metaphysical, performance, critical theoretical, popular culture, and digital warfare perspectives to critically analyze and speculatively imagine futuristic iterations of Black possibility Deconstructs colonial connections to futuristic modes of world building/framing, while simultaneously holding in tension with the need to create from distantly Black perspectives, methodologies, and sources Brings together leading scholars to critique current futuristic landscapes and speculatively imagine the future from various Black perspectives
Philip Butler
Black Futures deconstructivism speculative futures ethnicity Black embodiment Afrofuturism postcolonial Black methodologies