Afrofuturism, Funk, and the Black Imagination

Taken from our 2021 Comic-Con@Home Panel, in this episode, I discuss the origins and practical application of Afrofuturism with five leaders in this space: Afrofuturist scholar and cultural critic, Ytasha Womack; critically acclaimed illustrator and author Tim Fielder; Award winning, best selling graphic novelist and scholar, John Jennings; and Loreen Williamson and Pamela Thomas, the co-founders and co-curators of The Museum Of UnCut Funk. Together, they explore how black history, particularly 1970s funk culture and black animation, inspires the movements of speculative fiction and art. They detail their individual projects, while also highlighting collaborative efforts to revive vintage comic strip characters, such as Neil Knight, into modern STEM-focused franchises. Overall, the discussion emphasizes Afrofuturism as both an artistic aesthetic and a cultural practice that uses imagination and technology to construct new narratives of liberation and future possibilities for people of African descent. Now, on to the conversation.