From fashion to funk, virtual lecture series explores Afrofuturism – VCU News

By Sian Wilkerson

In an exclusive original series on the Audible podcast platform, a Virginia Commonwealth University educator allows listeners to embrace a movement that ranges from pioneering writer W.E.B. DuBois to funk master George Clinton.

Since DuBois’ work in the early 20th century, Afrofuturism has offered a more empowering narrative for people of African descent by using their cultural lens to reimagine, reinterpret and reclaim the past and present – and envision the future. In a new virtual lecture series, VCU’s Grace Gipson explores the movement’s evolution as well as its many forms and contributors.

“In terms of a framework, Afrofuturism envisions Black liberation and alternatives to oppressive structures through artistic expression in music, art and speculative fiction,” said Gipson, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the Department of African American Studies in the College of Humanities and Sciences. “In the words of American funk musician George Clinton, ‘I had to find another place where they hadn’t perceived Black people to be, and that was on a spaceship.’”

The six-part course on Audible traces the movement’s history and introduces listeners to the ways in which it engages with topics ranging from literature, fashion and architecture to comic books and graphic novels, film, television and music.

Gipson said she hopes listeners will understand “the ways in which Afrofuturism is threaded in the most obvious and subtle ways” throughout our culture, pointing to television shows such as “Lovecraft Country” and speculative and fantasy authors including Octavia Butler and Tomi Adeyemi.

“Ultimately, I hope that listeners feel inspired to recognize and engage with the richness of Black imagination in pop culture and beyond,” Gipson said.