Mar 29, 2024  
2018-2019 Catalogue 
    
2018-2019 Catalogue [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

ENGL 21032 - Afrofuturism

Course Credit: 1
(CMLT)
Afrofuturism Afrofuturism–a literary formation where Black writers, visual artists, and musicians shape the future by melding art and technology–has reached a watershed moment in American culture. With increasing attention paid to the work of Octavia Butler, the emergence of futuristic musical stylings from Janelle Monae and Saul Williams, and the cinematic adaptation of Marvel’s Black Panther, the form has expanded the boundaries of how we understand Black culture, challenging traditional science fiction to include a wider range of voices. In this course, we will focus on the broader aesthetic tradition of the genre, tracing a trajectory from the nineteenth century to the present across visual art, music, and literature. We will pay particular attention to the formation’s subversive formal features, the lessons its radical politics hold for our own time, and its fluid approach to gender and sexuality. [AH]