Blog Post Week 3

What has really interested me in this class is analyzing afrofuturism in different mediums; not just literature. I like that we watch clips of Black Panther and talk about the artistic choices made to portray afrofuturism and the effect it has.

Another thing that has interested me is reading texts that are quite challenging. It is had to come across classes that assign texts written by authors/poets of color.

I would always have to go out of my way to read authors of color but I am glad I am being assigned them in class. The Libretto for the Republic of Liberia was definitely something I may have not come across if it were not for this class. It is a powerful piece. In the beginning of the poem in the DO section, when Tolson writes “Liberia? […] You are the lightening rod of Europe, Canaan’s key, the rope across the abyss, Mehr Licht for the Africa-To-Be!” was a very emotionally provoking quote. The whole section is very proud and powerful. It ignites inspiration and shows Africa in its truest light. Texts like these about Africa are not discussed a lot in college when I feel like they should be.

2 Replies to “Blog Post Week 3”

  1. I really like that you stated what most of us are probably thinking- we’re not often assigned pieces by authors of color outside of this course. And also, we don’t just cover written works, but movies as well (and possibly music this week!) I touched on this in my post for this week; I’m looking forward to investigating the different mediums artists use to expand upon the Afrofuturist genre.

  2. I do think it’s important to recognize that Afrofuturism isn’t confined to one kind of creative practice or cultural form – there’s Afrofuturist dance, and so on, and that’s why “speculative fiction” as one definition is limited. Anaya’s ideas set us all up neatly for the ways your own case studies won’t have to be confined to poems.

    I also want to push your reflections further, Anaya. I think we’re all in the room we’re in because we care about reading more diversely, reading writers of color. But I would love to see you use this blog to explore why that matters, especially to you (I have some answers, of course, but I’m more interested in your answers). Toni Morrison has written about writing for black audiences – that I, as a white guy, am not someone she’s particularly interested in reaching. There’s something very powerful about her taking that stance, and I mention it hear to provoke you to thinking further about the stakes of when, where, and why we read writers of color…

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