Afrofuturism 2014

Fall 2014 AFAM 331 Professor Weheliye

TTh 12:30-2pm Crowe 5-121

Locy Hall 111 Office Hours: T 2:00-3pm/Th 10am-11am

TA: Jared Richardson a-weheliye@northwestern.edu

Afrofuturism: Race, Technology, and Liberation

The canon of African American literature continues to be associated with realist genres, even though there exists a history of African American speculative fiction dating back to the nineteenth century. This history has been brought to light by Afrofuturism, a burgeoning artistic and critical movement concerned with the place of science fiction and technology in black culture. On the one hand, this course will focus on the different ways African American writers, filmmakers, visual artists, and musicians have used science fiction to critique present forms of racial difference and imagine alternate futures. On the other hand, we will consider scholarly texts that analyze how information technologies have shaped black culture and politics. Overall, this course will introduce students to key concepts in Afrofuturism in order to examine how the artistic works associated with this movement offer a distinctive form of black cultural knowledge.

Requirements

*Regular attendance

*Essay

*Final multimedia project & presentation

*Weekly blog posts/responses

*In-class participation/Twitter

*Creating or editing three Wikipedia entries related to the course topic

Grading

Essay, Multimedia Project/Presentation, Blog Posts, and Wikipedia Entries 70%

In-class Participation, Twitter, and Attendance 30%

Rules

*Laptops may only be used for class related activities; otherwise they will be taken away.

*Cell phones and other mobile devices can be used for tweeting but nothing else during class time. Ringers should be off.

*You are required to bring reading materials to class, either in hard copy or electronic form.

*Please familiarize yourself with the “Avoiding Plagiarism” document posted on the Canvas Website site.

*Attendance is mandatory. Missing more than one class will result in a lower grade.

*In-class/online behavior should be based on mutual respect. I encourage and appreciate active, informed, and critical interchanges during our discussions, but these should be conducted in a manner that is considerate of others. This means that we should not use discriminatory and non-inclusive language whenever possible, even if we encounter this language in some of the materials on the syllabus. If you are unsure about using any particular terms, I encourage you to ask about them.

Students with Disabilities

Any student requesting accommodations related to a disability or other condition is required to register with Services for Students with Disabilities (ssd@northwestern.edu; 847-467-5530) and provide professors with an accommodation notification from SSD, preferably within the first two weeks of class. For more information: http://www.northwestern.edu/disability All information will remain confidential. I can best accommodate students if they let me or the TA know about their specific needs related to learning and fulfilling the requirements of the course.

Required Texts

Samuel R. Delany, Stars In My Pocket Like Grains Of Sand, Nalo Hopkinson, Midnight Robber, Kiese Laymon, Long Division, Ishmael Reed, Mumbo Jumbo

All other class materials will be available through the Canvas website

Blog Posts

The class blog on the course Canvas provides page a forum for discussion before and after our class sessions: https://northwestern.instructure.com/courses/2917

Each week you are required to contribute at least two substantive comments to one of the posts on the course blog. Each comment should reflect what you have learned from and think about the assigned class materials. Substantive responses consist of a paragraph that takes into account previous posts and assigned readings (200 words). These responses should focus on your classmates’ posts and the readings.

One time during the quarter, you will be required to write a substantive blog post (500-600 words). You will need to introduce the materials assigned for the session, provide links to secondary sources (blog posts, videos, etc.) that relate to the assigned materials, and post thought provoking discussion questions that show you have completed the reading and thought about the way the particular work fits into the larger themes of the course.

Your substantive blog posts should be posted no later than 24 hours before the class session during which we will discuss the assigned materials. Your responses to your classmates’ posts need to be posted no later than12am the night before the class session.

If no students are assigned to post for a session, all students are required to post shorter responses to the class materials no later than12am the night before the class session during which we will discuss the assigned materials.

You are also encouraged to respond in a less formal manner to the posts and comments of your classmates. These responses are in addition to your required comments. Here, you can comment less formally, provide links and/or quotes that illustrate or challenge another post, etc. Check the course blog often to engage with the ongoing discussion.

Twitter

One or two students will be responsible for tweeting about the discussion during each class session from the course account (you can post questions or comments about the discussion, engage with the authors we’re reading, etc.). The rest of the class can respond either during class or afterwards. Every student should post at least five tweets per week. Please include the handle: @Afrofuturism14 in your class-related tweets. If you do not have a Twitter account yet, you will need to create one and follow the course account.

Note: If you already a Twitter account. Twitter doesn’t let you associate the same email address with more than one Twitter account. If you have a Gmail account, however, you can add a dot (.) anywhere in the username and all emails will still reach you, because Gmail ignores periods. You can add the dot anywhere in your email address to create a separate Twitter account. For instance, if your Twitter account is associated with the email address: ABC@gmail.com, you can use A.BC@gmail.com or AB.C@gmail.com to sign up for a second Twitter account for the course.

Guidelines for 500-600 word posts

Your blog posts should be posted no later than 24 hours before the class session during which we will discuss the assigned materials.

**Introduce the materials assigned for the session.

**Provide links to secondary sources (text, video, image, music, etc.) that relate to the assigned materials. Briefly explain how these sources relate to the assigned materials.

Devise discussion questions that show you have completed the reading and have thought about the way the particular work fits into the larger themes of the course.

Here are some questions to consider:

*How do the assigned materials relate to the previous materials & discussions in the course?

*What new dimensions (historical facts, theoretical approaches, examples, etc.) do these materials add to our ongoing discussion?

*What is the author’s methodology, theoretical approach, disciplinary background, etc.? How does this shape his/her argument?

*Do these materials contradict and/or revise previous arguments? If so, how?

*How do these materials speak to current social, political, economic, and cultural conditions?

Quarter Schedule

Please note: the most up-to-date version of the quarter schedule will always be available online

Tuesday 9/23 Course Introduction

Thursday 9/25 Alondra Nelson, “Future Texts,” Womack, Afrofuturism (Excerpt) & João Costa Vargas and Joy A. James, “Refusing Blackness-as-Victimization: Trayvon Martin and the Black Cyborgs,” Womack, Afrofuturism (excerpts), Syms, “The Mundane Afrofuturist Manifesto” (Canvas Website)

Friday 09/26 @4:30pm Class meets at the Block Museum for a conversation with artist Wangechi Mutu

Tuesday 9/30 Film: Last Angel of History

Reading: Kodwo Eshun, “Further Considerations on Afrofuturism” (Canvas Website)

Thursday 10/2 Reed, Mumbo Jumbo

Tuesday 10/7 Film: Born In Flames (Canvas Website)

Thursday 10/9 Reed, Mumbo Jumbo

Tuesday 10/14 Delany, Stars In My Pocket Like Grains Of Sand

Thursday 10/16 Film: I Am Legend (Lore Website)

Reading: W.E.B. Du Bois, “The Comet” (Lore Website)

Tuesday 10/21 Delany, Stars In My Pocket Like Grains Of Sand

Thursday 10/23 Films: Space Is the Place & Sun Ra, Brother From Another Planet

Essay due at 5pm via Canvas Website

Tuesday 10/28 Delany, Stars In My Pocket Like Grains Of Sand

Thursday 10/30 Kiese Laymon, Long Division

Saturday 11/01 panel on Wangechi Mutu and Afrofuturism (2pm at The Block Museum)

Tuesday 11/4 Films: Futurestates: Remigration, Pumzi & Afrofuturism in Popular Culture: Wanuri Kahiu

Thursday 11/6 Kiese Laymon, Long Division

Tuesday 11/11 Simone Browne, “Digital Epidermalization: Race, Identity and Biometrics,” Brock, “From the Blackhand Side,” Adam Banks, Digital Griots (selections) (Canvas Website)

Thursday 11/13 Music George Clinton, Funkadelic

Film: George Clinton: Tales of Dr Funkenstein

Reading: Corbett, “Brothers From Another Planet” and Royster, “P–Funk’s Black Masculinity”(Canvas Website)

Tuesday 11/18 Hopkinson, Midnight Robber

Thursday 11/20 Music: Detroit Techno and Its Offshoots

Reading: Kodwo Eshun, “Motion Capture” & Nabeel Zuberi, “Black Whole Styles” (Canvas Website)

Film: High Tech Soul the Creation of Techno Music

Tuesday 11/25 Hopkinson, Midnight Robber

Thursday 11/27 No Class: Thanksgiving

Tuesday 12/2 Presentation of Final Group Projects