Afrofuturism: the power of imagination

Use the imagination as an instrument of transformation. This has been my escape valve to concretely start designing solutions that distance us from a system of oppression, especially when the agenda is anti-racism. In February 2020, the 23rd Tiradentes film brazilian's exhibition promoted discussions about the imagination as a form of expression, especially in a scenario of social hopelessness. The researcher Helena Vieira gave us her speech: “If there is a word that can characterize our time, that word is exhaustion. The hopeless feeling occupies most of everything we live today. Many people say we should feel hope, but I don't believe it. Hope is a sad feeling, hope is something completely colonized, Europeans are the ones who have hope”.

The researcher precisely indicated imagination as an important way to create a new world and allow forms of resistance, struggle, expression and desire for life. Based on this idea of ​​imagination as a possibility, Helena raised the question: “How can we imagine? How to think what was not thought? What exercise can you do? How to present an alternative world that is not the one we are experiencing? We are in a world that has collapsed, or, as the Yanomami say, the sky is falling.”

Afrofuturism has the power to use the imagination to setting up other cosmologies, aesthetics and rationalities as a pluriversal alternative to include voices and narratives.

There is no doubt that as an instrumental resource one of the keys to the imagination is cinema. Would it be possible to build a future without seeing yourself in it? What is the mainstream message when there is no inclusion of black people in futuristic narratives? Are there no blacks in the future? As an answer to these existential questions, Afrofuturism has shown itself as a movement that connects ancestral habits in terms of traditions, identity, language, religion, musicality, among other practices, bringing the African diaspora closer together.

From scarcity to social transformation, Afrofuturism proposes the resignification of black identity. In this sense, writer Ytasha Womack defines it as "an intersection of imagination, technology, future and liberation."

Thus, if racism literally suffocates and does not let us breathe, on the other hand Afrofuturism is believed in the transcendence of the colonial model of life, creating spaces where black people can see themselves included experiencing the fullness of freedom.

The original American science fiction series Star Trek is a pioneer in the topic, having in its cast the actress Nichelle Nichols, a black woman who carried futuristic representation on open television amidst the current segregation situation in the United States of the 60s.

In an interview, the actress tells the episode in which she was approached by Dr. Martin Luther King who was a big fan of the series. The actress says that at the time she shared with the activist that she was giving up on the iconic role, because she was interested in seeking new directions for her career.

Dr. King astonished told him: “You cannot give up because you are the image of where we want to go. You are 300 years ahead of us. For the first time we are seeing ourselves as we would like to see ourselves every day: smart, equal and beautiful. You don't have the role of a black person, you have the role of equality”.

Away from flying cars, artificial intelligence and ideas of colonizing other planets, Afrofuturism aims to show possible paths for black people against the current oppressive scenario so that they keep dreaming that is why the actress was convinced that she should stay acting in the series.

The movement uses technology, aesthetics, afrosurrealism, science fiction as a mechanism to retell the story from the point of view of black productions, producing new speculative and enthusiastic narratives about black people against the Euro-Western historical damage that caused erasure , oppression and appropriation of the diverse knowledge of the African diaspora, which is why Afrofuturism has mobilized not only the audiovisual, but also artists, musicians, writers and scholars who go in the direction of extolling the elements of black culture.

In the American reality, names like Sun Ra, Jimi Hendrix, Missy Elliott, Tim Fielder are usually referred to as precursors of this movement. Besides, the movie Black Panther, science fiction with a entire black cast, brings several references on this subject.

In Brazil, researchers Morena Mariah and Fabio Kabral are names that are leading the conversation about Afrofuturism. For the writer Fabio Kabral, Afrofuturist narratives are fundamental to the movement and must contain four structural elements such as: 1) Protagonism of black characters; 2) Black fantasy and/or science fiction narrative; 3) Centrality of the African agency and 4) Protagonism of black authors. In the words of the author: “Afrofuturism is this movement to recreate the past, transform the present and project a new future through our own perspective”. He concludes: Afrofuturism is the mix of African mythologies, traditions, fantasy and science fiction narratives, with the necessary prominence of black characters and authors. Morena Mariah, a content creator and podcaster who created "the Afrofuturo project", defends the movement as a kind of "Renaissance of black people".

From the millenary technologies offered by ancient Egypt in the context of civilizations, Afrofuturism creates an emancipatory movement and guides us towards the re-signification of the discourse produced by Eurocentered thought, because unlike what Western history intends, black was not always synonymous with scarcity and dehumanization.

In conclusion, no matter how exhausted we are, we cannot forget that besides the resistance, we are also powerfull. Despite the Whiteness working tirelessly to erase our stories and silence our voices, may we be able to honor our commitment to our ancestry who gave us the baton so that we could continue having the daring to dream. Let's never stop imagining.