Humanities and Fine Arts 191HFA42 - FYS-Prophecy,TimeTravel,Space

In this seminar, we look at some African American texts with an eye to their visions of a future. Futurist aesthetics in writings from the African diaspora fall under the umbrella term of Afrofuturism. The term refers to an aesthetics in which people of the African diaspora imagine a seemingly impossible future under the conditions of racial oppression and discrimination. We will begin with a brief introduction to the concept of Afrofuturism: what motivates and inspires the futurist aesthetics of African diasporic writers. We will then ask such questions as: what kinds of futures do these texts envision, and to what possible ends? How do writers and artists in this course use futurist lens to comment on racial and gender-based injustices in their present? What do we make of such motifs as prophecy, blood, and time travel, which authors use to articulate futurist ideas?

Open to first-year Humanities and Fine Arts Exploratory Track students and first-year HFA Majors.