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A review by blerdbeats
Afrofuturism: The World of Black Sci-Fi and Fantasy Culture by Ytasha Womack
4.0
I consider Womack's Afrofuturism part of the holy trinity of critical texts on black fantastic fiction (The Dark Fantastic and Super Black). Here, the focus is in the realm of sci-fi, where Afrofuturism is defined as "an intersection of imagination, technology, the future, and liberation" through the lens of black culture (9).
What is exciting about Afrofuturism is that it is a modern concept, only as old as 1994. Yet this text points toward its precursors George Clinton and Sun Ra in the funk. Womack then moves forward in time toward authors like Octavia Butler and N.K. Jemisin whose visibility has been recently magnified. The text then looks toward Janelle Monáe for bringing Afrofuturism into mainstream entertainment.
Womack's text, is scholarly but accessible through its allegorical introductions—there is no impenetrable academise to be found here. It accomplishes its goal of defining in layman's terms what Afrofuturism is.
Going froward, I will always think of how black authors writing sci-fi conform to Afrofuturism. Their rarity, and tendency to center their characters around a kind of black expression that (now) has a more precise name.
What is exciting about Afrofuturism is that it is a modern concept, only as old as 1994. Yet this text points toward its precursors George Clinton and Sun Ra in the funk. Womack then moves forward in time toward authors like Octavia Butler and N.K. Jemisin whose visibility has been recently magnified. The text then looks toward Janelle Monáe for bringing Afrofuturism into mainstream entertainment.
Womack's text, is scholarly but accessible through its allegorical introductions—there is no impenetrable academise to be found here. It accomplishes its goal of defining in layman's terms what Afrofuturism is.
Going froward, I will always think of how black authors writing sci-fi conform to Afrofuturism. Their rarity, and tendency to center their characters around a kind of black expression that (now) has a more precise name.