Over the quarter we will discuss Black Speculative Culture and Afrofuturism
in a great deal of variant forms.
One ofthe central ideas in the course that we will talk about is the idea of “liberation technologies”. By broadly defining “technology” we give authors, artists, and scholars a lot
more flexibility in defining black identity politics and how they get formulated in
multiple ways via cultural production.
We can look at writing as a liberation technology. Visual Art, Dance, Performance
as liberation technologies. If you are using that “tool” to freely express yourself
and to openly resist oppression, it can be seen as a liberation technology.
Dr. Beth Coleman defines technology in this quote: “In thefields of anthropology and philosophy, technology is often defined as an intrinsically human extension of the self ”.
We’ve seen authors use fictitious technologies in their stories to critique the effects ofracism and other forms oppression in our society. Examples go from the Afro-Horn
created by Henry Dumas to the Pig Detector created by Amiri Baraka. We can also
look at the technology used in Black No More by George Schuyler which turns
black people into white people.
Your assignment will be to create a liberation technology in the form of an artifact that can
be used in the traditions of black speculative cultural politics specifically for the freedom or
advancement of people of color in our society.
This can be a fictitious, fantastic, totally made up technology, artifact, or any other type of
speculative contraption, machine, or dream like process or component.
This technology can be described in a story, a report, or an essay.
This fictitious technology or artifact should be useful to critique social injustices, create
opportunities lost via racism, be able to empower people of color in some way, or level the
playing field in some way that results in some semblance of equality. It should focus on using
the radical imagination to create something that would help realize an Afrofuture.
The piece can be created using any medium but must be scanned in at hi-resolution because
the final output will be digital. The piece should be 10×10 in. in scale. There should also be an
Sample Solution
