Afrofuturism and Indigenous Futurism - Case Study Example

Afrofuturism and Indigenous Futurism Introduction An overall definition of futurism would refer to it as the act or art of being concerned with trends and occurrences of the life to come, or future, or concisely, it is anticipating the future. However, futurism is more popular as the movement formed in the early 1900’s in Milan by one Fillipo Marinetti who was an Italian poet. Marinetti’s movement displayed a strong loathe of old elements such as artistic and political norms and traditions where in his manifesto, he openly wrote against such stating that they needed nothing to do with the past, and referring to themselves as strong, young futurists. The futurist movement had an obsession and intense admiration for youth, speed, industrial advancements, technology, scientific progression, airplanes, and cars amongst other elements that displayed humanity’s triumph over general nature. In a scientific context, futurism refers to a social group of scientists or scientists specializing in futurology, which is the attempt to research and explore possibilities and predictions of the future in addition to how they can transition from the current time, and their effects on human existence. Futurism has different means of manifesting itself depending on various aspects, a nature that gives rise to it having sub-branches. This essay will highlight, discuss, and evaluate two branches of futurism, that is Afrofuturism and indigenous futurism while laying much emphasis on their application in science fiction. Definitions Afrofuturism is a cultural and literal aesthetic that puts together aspects of magic realism, science fiction, afrocentricity, fantasy, and historical fiction with cosmologies that are non-western and use these to criticize dilemmas faced by non-white people living in Diaspora environments where the perception of black people in science and science fiction is negative or absent. These critiques focus on both current and historical occurrences that face “people of color” in the Diaspora then address the arising matters via a science fiction and/or a techno culture perspective. On its part, Indigenous Futurism is the initial scientific practice of making connections and perceiving life’s patterns across wide sections of time and base without basing its perceptions only on western/European science, otherwise called “Whiteman’s science”. These two forms of futurism are similar in that both address the discrimination of blacks in expounding or exercising future perceptions and ideologies. Hip Hop (as Afrofuturism) Afrofuturism (2011) refers to hip hop as a culture of the underclass that is urban in nature, and is further a disillusioned and disaffected mass. It is popular for its revolts and rebellion that form its dominant mode of expressing its opinions, views or demands. These modes of communication are split into several expressions such as graffiti, using music, Dj’ing, break dancing, using spoken word, dancing, and many more. The hip-hop culture has spread all over the world, evident in the popularity of rap music especially to the young in society. It is most popular in areas where there are masses of youth and who due to the unfavorable conditions surrounding them resort to destitution thus a somehow rebellious nature. The role of hip hop therefore reflects to Gonzalez’s version that defines it as a “catchphrase in a culture that describes the future of the world by using theater, music, academics, politics, art, and academics.” It however adds that this definition varies across people (Gonzalez 1-2). Afrofuturism extends to literature where the authors define and create their stories on African-American characters and views of science fiction. For instance, is Nigerian author Nnedi Okorafor’s publication, Spider the Artist in which the story bases its setting on the famous Nigerian oil industry then brings in fictional (scientific) ideologies. In the story, the oil industry, through the government, uses manufactured zombies to guard the pipeline used in transporting the oil. The zombies are not the common robots depicted in movies but are creations with thinking ability, which in the story exceeds human intelligence by far. They can read human conduct and language, understand it, and then use extra powerful scientific means to destroy trespassers to oil pipelines. They posses abilities such as understanding human language, a seemingly a destructive explosive mechanism, produce a deafening noise, easily shred humans into bits, and move at lightning speed. In addition, they can control human life, for instance, in the story where the main character befriends a zombie that in turn changes her once deteriorating marriage, and she is also able to conceive after numerous instances of trying (Akorafor, n.p.). An outstanding objective of Afrofuturism is that it goes beyond science fiction; that is the aliens, zombies, or spaceships and integrates mythologies based on African concepts. The aim of this is to resurrect African mythologies and cosmologies in the blacks residing in white territories who forgot about their native ancestors. Indigenous Futurism Indigenous science refers to an accepted definition of understandings and beliefs of non-westerners that they acquire a place after associating with it for a long time. The knowledge bases its origin from spiritual, physical, or social understandings that define their way of survival and add to them knowing their reason for existing in the world. It differs from mainstream western futurism in that it uses the people’s naturally acquired knowledge rather than use scientific knowledge that comes from laws that are made up through experimentation of a scientific methodology to the world surrounding us. With this definition comes Mary Dillon’s book, Walking in the Clouds: An Anthology of Indigenous Science Fiction that is popular as being a first in that it was the first ever anthology of native science that showcases imaginations that are wholly indigenous. The overall literature portrays indigenous futurism in that nativity in storytelling always contains elements associated with science fiction, and which are visionary, inventive, and thinking forward. The collection of stories includes pieces with science fiction themes such as lasers and spaceships then add a twist of not-so-common ideas like magical realism. In a nutshell, the author tries to point out that indigenous futurism reflects in storytelling as an inventor of science fiction since the stories in the book base their ideologies on native (indigenous) ideas from the authors’ understanding of their worlds. This is the same case with Spider the Artist where the author bases her fictional story that employs much science fiction in a setting originating from her understanding of the world surrounding her. In this case, her world is the Nigerian oil fields and pipelines where she later brings in the zombie characters. Evaluation In comparison, the two forms of futurism show some similarities and differences, though few, between them. The first outstanding similarity is that while Afrofuturism is mandated with reviving and upholding black dignity in futurism, the same happens with indigenous futurism. This is evident in that Afrofuturism works against the discrimination of people of color in conceiving or coming up with science fiction ideas to create forecasts of the future to come. Indigenous futurism is similar to Afrofuturism in that although it does not target blacks specifically, it is against the application of western-only scientific notions in perceiving the status of the oncoming future. The other difference is that from the two perspectives on futurism is that Afrofuturism happens to be a universal movement or body in that its effects and branches are spread out all over the world, as seen in the case of hip-hop. On the contrary, indigenous futurism has obviously varied in that it relies on an individual’s understanding, this relationship with their specific surroundings. This makes it a partial or a varying entity since different people across the world exist in different places, thus have varying knowledge. The definition of both forms of futurism by evaluating their properties and relation to science fiction makes one to have distinct ideas of what each entails. With this knowledge, one is able to tell which category each one belongs to as the above evaluation distinguishes between Afrofuturism and indigenous futurism. It is hard to distinguish between various forms of futurism since they seem to address the same issues and concepts, but with the knowledge of addressing and telling each other apart, then one can get a deeper meaning and understanding of the text. There appear differences when the integration of science or science fiction applies to both cases. For instance, there is a much interlocking between science and afrofuturisms’s hip hop entity. This is evident, for instance in using technology to distribute elements of the system such as computers in music production and distribution. This is however not the case in indigenous futurism since scientific laws do not directly apply or even define any aspect of it. This is because indigenous uses nativity, which is understanding of a person’s naturally occurring environment in expression of future perceptions based on non-western perspectives. Conclusion These discussed forms of futurism create environments that support an environment supporting everyone the world over to explore occurrences from the past, present and from their estimate their potential manifestations in the future. They are also supportive of aborting any lingering discrimination. It is through understanding such that it becomes possible to eliminate the discrimination, thus support a deeper experience of them other than just spaceships, pyramids, and laser fantasies. Works Cited Afrofuturism. “Hip Hop and Afrofuturism: The Seeding of the Consciousness Field.”Afrofuturism.2011. Web. 18 February 2014. Akorafor, Nnedi. “Spider the Artist.” Light Speed Magazine. 2008. Web. 18 February 2014. Gonzalez, Michael. “[Black Alt]: What is Afrofuturism?.” Ebony.com. 2013. Web. 18 February 2014. Read More