Introduction to Afrofuturism

Define afrofuturism by exploring a black cultural lens and identifying unapologetically black examples, such as black augmented reality creators, to see if you are an afrofuturist.

Afrofuturism is explored by asking why it exists and what images reveal about who we are, challenging representations and tracing how ideas, culture, technology, and capitalism shape identity.

Explore how race functions as an idea and a technology, used as a weapon by white supremacy to justify oppression and organize social hierarchies.

Explore how technology sustains white supremacy by linking slavery to racism and using tools like gunpowder and early genetics, through Tuskegee and slave women's health studies.

In Afrofuturism, treat race as a technology and racism as real, noting race is not biological and showing how racial ideas shape laws, daily life, and access to resources.

Explore how race imposes limitations, both external and self-imposed, and examine the impact of stereotypes on black expression, confidence, and life choices.

Explore how Afrofuturism links technology to social conditions and imagines liberation through improvisation, adaptability, and black cultural expressions across eras.

Explore ideas of alternate realities in Afrofuturism through what-if scenarios, such as a comet unlocking superpowers for people with African genetic material and reshaping the world.

Explore Afrofuturism as a lens for imagining alternative futures to shift the present, challenge established stories, and think critically about what if there could be other worlds.

Afrofuturism uses the power of imagery and imagination to reshape culture, challenge stereotypes, and reveal how images perpetuate white supremacy and social injustice.

explore imagining and rewriting the image of blackness by challenging stereotypes with lived experiences, showing how black people can make technology culturally relevant, including in the augmented reality space.

Explore Afrofuturism as a framework to reimagine new futures by rewriting stories, challenging whiteness and colonialism, and centering black voices to create inclusive, post-normal solutions.

Challenging mainstream techno culture and whitewashed futures, Afrofuturism intersects the African diaspora with culture and technology to reimagine black futures through speculative thought.

Imagine what you want to see in the world through speculative thought, envisioning technology that expands opportunities for Black communities and centers Black identity, while avoiding gentrification.

Explore how speculative thinking and fiction shape Afrofuturism, linking imagined ideas to innovation and African roots, through music, video, and image playlists that define its look and sound.

Define Afrofuturism as a speculative fiction that imagines African-American themes within 20th-century technoculture, uniting imagination with a prosthetically enhanced future for liberation through a black cultural lens.

Explore how science fiction and Afrofuturism redefine blackness by enabling black identities through technology, challenging stereotypes, and envisioning empowered futures beyond limited representations.

Afrofuturism reframes representation by using speculative thought to write our own stories, expanding inclusive futures and challenging western norms through imagined worlds.

Explore how speculative thought and African cultural history intersect through Afrofuturism, highlighting Egypt and Nubia, astronomy, interdisciplinary art and science, and critiques of racial pseudoscience.

Analyze how Egyptian references appear in pop culture without African people, examining examples like the mummy collection series and Gods of Egypt, and explore reconnecting African representation.

Afrofuturism draws on ancient cosmologies—Egyptian deities, Dogon myths, water myths, Yoruba orishas—to empower black communities to reconnect roots and imagine futures through speculative fiction and social change.

Afrofuturists reimagine black futures, spark conversations, and offer new perspectives through afrofuturist works that speculate on the past and future while reconfiguring the present.

Identify contemporary music artists who embody afrofuturism, curate afrofuturistic songs from your playlists, and discuss examples such as Rexx Life Raj's Moonwalk with space and alien imagery.

Explore how Afrofuturism functions as a feminist movement, centering black women in sci-fi futures, from Octavia Butler's works to post-apocalyptic Detroit and Black Panther's leadership.

Explore how Afrofuturism reframes societal limitations on women as strengths, turning emotion and intelligence into powers that empower feminist leadership.

Afrofuturism uses sound, image, language, and form to redefine blackness through cognitive estrangement, blending Dogon masks, steampunk, time travel, and space imagery across arts.

Afrofuturism leverages technology and hip hop to redefine black identity and create future-forward art, from iconic performers to alter egos and immersive media.

Create your own afrofuturistic art across media to express your afrofuturist identity. Explore what Afrofuturism means to you, ask what if, and share your world, sounds, images, and stories.