Afrofuturism and the Law: A Manifesto

Afrofuturism and the Law: A Manifesto

Afrofuturism seems to be everywhere these days. It’s front and center in the award-winning fiction of N. K. Jemisin 1 Open footnote #1 1 Footnote #1 content: See, e.g. , sources cited infra note 185. close and Nnedi Okorafor. 2 Open footnote #2 2 Footnote #2 content: See infra note 183 and accompanying text. close It’s in the pop music of Janelle Monáe and Outkast and Erykah Badu, 3 Open footnote #3 3 Footnote #3 content: For examples of Monáe’s work, see, for example, sources cited infra note 134. For a discussion and some examples of Afrofuturist themes in the work of Outkast and Badu, see Tony Bolden, Afrofuturism in Black Music , CH: TIMELINE OF AFR. AM. MUSIC, https://timeline.carnegiehall.org/ stories/afrofuturism-in-black-music [https://perma.cc/Q65J-7GY7] (last visited May 27, 2024). close and in the jazz of Flying Lotus and Kamasi Washington and Sons of Kemet. 4 Open footnote #4 4 Footnote #4 content: For a discussion and some examples of Afrofuturist themes in the work of these jazz artists, see Miles Marshall Lewis, Jazz and Afrofuturism: From Sun Ra to Flying Lotus , CARNEGIE HALL, https:// www.carnegiehall.org/Explore/Articles/2022/02/09/Jazz-and-Afrofuturism [https://perma.cc/EY8Q- NVYG] (last visited May 27, 2024) and Thomas Hobbs, Sons of Kemet’s Afrofuturist Jazz Is the Sound of Youthful, Modern London , CRACK (Oct. 25, 2018), https://crackmagazine.net/article/live-reviews/sons-of- kemets-afrofuturist-jazz-is-the-sound-of-youthful-modern-london/ [https://perma.cc/N9DA-Y4BA]. close It’s even in folk music, through artists like Jake Blount. It’s in the art of Wangechi Mutu and Nick Cave. It’s certainly in the blockbuster films Black Panther 5 Open footnote #5 5 Footnote #5 content: BLACK PANTHER (Marvel Studios 2018). close and Wakanda Forever , 6 Open footnote #6 6 Footnote #6 content: BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER (Marvel Studios 2022). close to say nothing of smaller independent films like Neptune Frost 7 Open footnote #7 7 Footnote #7 content: NEPTUNE FROST (Swan Films 2021). close and, for that matter, television series like Watchmen 8 Open footnote #8 8 Footnote #8 content: Watchmen (HBO 2019); see also WATCHMEN (Warner Bros. 2009). close and Lovecraft Country . 9 Open footnote #9 9 Footnote #9 content: Lovecraft Country (HBO 2020). close There’s even a resurgence of interest in earlier Afrofuturists. In 2020, Octavia Butler’s novel The Parable of the Sower debuted on the New York Times best-seller list nearly three decades after it was first released; 10 Open footnote #10 10 Footnote #10 content: OCTAVIA E. BUTLER, PARABLE OF THE SOWER (reissued 2019) (1993); accord Maiysha Kai, It Took Nearly 50 Years, but This Week, Octavia Butler Made the New York Times Best Sellers’ List , ROOT (Sept. 4, 2020), https://www.theroot.com/it-took-nearly-50-years-but-this-week-octavia-butler- 1844956328 [https://perma.cc/WG3L-GMX8]. close her novel Kindred was recently adapted for television, and other adaptations are on the way. 11 Open footnote #11 11 Footnote #11 content: Judy Berman, FX’s Kindred Is a Solid, Long Overdue Adaptation of Octavia E. Butler’s Masterpiece , TIME (Dec. 8, 2022, 12:00 PM), https://time.com/6238862/kindred-review-fx/ [https:// perma.cc/VVD3-WFZJ]; see Sydney Scott, Viola Davis Is Bringing Octavia Butler’s Novel ‘ Wild Seed ’ to the Small Screen , ESSENCE (Dec. 6, 2020), https://www.essence.com/entertainment/amazon-wild- seed-viola-davis-julius-tennon/ [https://perma.cc/BEP8-M33F]; Julian Lucas, How Octavia E. Butler Reimagines Sex and Survival , NEW YORKER (Mar. 8, 2021), https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/ 2021/03/15/how-octavia-e-butler-reimagines-sex-and-survival. close The New York Times recently profiled her in one issue, 12 Open footnote #12 12 Footnote #12 content: See Lynell George, The Visions of Octavia Butler , N.Y. TIMES (Nov. 17, 2022), https://www. nytimes.com/interactive/2022/11/17/arts/octavia-butler-vision-kindred.html. close while the New Yorker profiled the Afrofuturist Samuel Delany in another. 13 Open footnote #13 13 Footnote #13 content: See Julian Lucas, How Samuel R. Delany Reimagined Sci-Fi, Sex, and the City , NEW YORKER (July 3, 2023),https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/07/10/samuel-r-delany-profile. close Other indicators of Afrofuturism’s continuing influence? In 2021, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York opened an Afrofuturist period room as an ongoing exhibit. 14 Open footnote #14 14 Footnote #14 content: Jennifer Vanasco, A Wondrous Afrofuturism Period Room Opens at the Met Museum , GOTHAMIST (Nov. 6, 2021), https://gothamist.com/arts-entertainment/wondrous-afrofuturism-period-room-opens-met- museum [https://perma.cc/A9J9-HZ9L]; Before Yesterday We Could Fly: An Afrofuturist Period Room , MET, https://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/afrofuturist-period-room [https://perma.cc/77KE-WU2K] (last visited May 13, 2024). close In 2022, Carnegie Hall presented a city-wide Afrofuturism festival. 15 Open footnote #15 15 Footnote #15 content: Giovanni Russonello, An Afrofuturism Festival Brings an Energy Shift to Carnegie Hall , N.Y. TIMES (Apr. 6, 2022), https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/06/arts/music/afrofuturism-festival.html. close The Metropolitan Opera recently added an Afrofuturist staging to Anthony Davis’s opera X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X . 16 Open footnote #16 16 Footnote #16 content: See Joshua Barone, Review: Anthony Davis’s Malcolm X Opera Finally Arrives at the Met , N.Y. TIMES (Nov. 5, 2023), https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/05/arts/music/review-x-life-and-times-of- macolm-x-met-opera.html. close From March 2023 through August 2024 in the nation’s capital, the National Museum of African American History and Culture boasted as its special exhibit “Afrofuturism: A History of Black Futures.” 17 Open footnote #17 17 Footnote #17 content: DaNeen L. Brown, ‘Afrofuturism’ Navigates Past, Present and Future of Black Experience , WASH. POST (May 10, 2023, 1:48 PM), https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2023/05/10/national-museum- african-american-history-culture-afrofuturism-history-black-futures/; National Museum of African American History and Culture Announces New Exhibition Exploring Stories and Futures of Black Liberation , NAT’L MUSEUM AFR. AM. HIST. & CULTURE (Nov. 9, 2022), https://nmaahc.si.edu/about/news/national-museum-african-american-history-and-culture-announces-new-exhibition-exploring [https://perma.cc/6J57-T9XP] (last visited Feb. 13, 2024). close The District of Columbia even has an Afrofuturism-themed restaurant, Bronze. 18 Open footnote #18 18 Footnote #18 content: Cornelia Poku, First Look: Bronze Restaurant Brings Hub of Afrofuturism to H Street NE , DCIST (Jan. 27, 2023, 4:12 PM), https://dcist.com/story/23/01/27/first-look-bronze-h-street-dc-afrofuturism- african-caribbean-food/ [https://perma.cc/35M5-YST9]. close And of course, there is this special Georgetown Law Journal Symposium Issue, Afrofuturism and the Law .

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