I generally define Afrofuturism as a way of imagining possible futures through a black cultural lens, says Ingrid LaFleur, an art curator and Afrofuturist. The book is a 2014 Locus Award Finalist in the nonfiction category. Afrofuturism is an intersection of imagination, technology, the future, and liberation.

Her book Afrofuturism: The World of Black Sci Fi and Fantasy explores black sci fi culture, bleeks, black comix, and the legacy of futurism. We might understand Mills and Monáe as disseminating, in the words of Paul Gilroy, an Afrofuturist “cultural broadcast” that feeds “a new metaphysics of blackness” enacted “within the underground, alternative, public spaces constituted around an expressive culture. Womack’s 2013 Afrofuturism: The World of Black Sci-Fi and Fantasy Culture, the first comprehensive primer on the subject, treats a number of African artists, including the novelist Nnedi o korafor and the filmmaker Wanuri Kahiu. Womack is an author, filmmaker, dancer and futurist. Afrofuturism According to Ytasha Womack, use of the imagination for self-development and social change is one of the greatest tenets of Afrofuturism. The performances, music, and subjectivities of Detroit techno producer Jeff Mills-radio turntablist The Wizard, space-and-time traveller The Messenger, founding member of Detroit techno outfit Underground Resistance and head of Axis Records-and Janelle Monáe-android #57821, Cindi Mayweather, denizen and “cyber slavegirl” of Metropolis-are infused with the black Atlantic imaginary of Afrofuturism. Comprising elements of the avant-garde, science fiction, cutting-edge hip-hop, black comix, and graphic novels, afrofuturism spans.

Afrofuturism by Ytasha L. Womack