“Future-looking Black scholars, artists, and activists are not only reclaiming their right to tell their own stories, but also to critique the European/American digerati class of their narratives about cultural others, past, present and future and, challenging their presumed authority to be the sole interpreters of Black lives and Black futures.”
Afrofuturism is an established and yet fast developing area of narrative fiction that is becoming increasingly visible in the mainstream arts landscape. The soon-to-be-released Black Panther film is evidence that these narratives are extremely appealing to film audiences, and will hopefully inspire a generation of young people whose cultural environment is inclusive, inspiring and empowering. Afrofuturism is powerful because it reasserts black power in a society that has condemned, suppressed and annihilated cultures, peoples, knowledge and autonomy for thousands of years, and offers a reimagined narrative, utilising technology to visualise and realise mythologies and societies from pan-African, African diasporic, Afro-future female perspectives, to name but a few. In a world that remains hostile, unequal and exceedingly violent towards African peoples around the globe, like much other culture that has originated in these communities, Afrofuturism offers hope, alternative stories, and a vision of the future.
