Afrofuturism and Black Sound Studies

Culture, Technology, and Things to Come

Erik Steinskog

• Verlag: Palgrave Macmillan
• Jahr: 2017
• ISBN:
  9783319660417
• Thema: Scienze sociali
• Thema: Sociologia

This book interrogates the meeting point between Afrofuturism and Black Sound Studies. Whereas Afrofuturism is often understood primarily in relation to science fiction and speculative fiction, it can also be examined from a sonic perspective.
The sounds of Afrofuturism are deeply embedded in the speculative – demonstrated in mythmaking – in frameworks for songs and compositions, in the personas of the artists, and in how the sounds are produced. In highlighting the place of music within the lived experiences of African Americans, the author analyses how the perspectives of Black Sound Studies complement and overlap with the discussion of sonic Afrofuturism. Focusing upon blackness, technology, and sound, this unique text offers key insights in how music partakes in imagining and constructing the future.
This innovative volume will appeal to students and scholars of sound studies, musicology and African American studies.

© The Author(s) 2018

Erik SteinskogAfrofuturism and Black Sound StudiesPalgrave Studies in Soundhttps://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-66041-7_1

Begin Abstract

1. Introduction: Afrofuturism and Black Sound Studies

Erik Steinskog¹

(1)

Department of Arts and Cultural Studies, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark

End Abstract

Since Mark Dery coined the term “Afrofuturism” almost 25 years ago, the term and the phenomena it refers to have gotten much attention. These days it can be found in reviews of recordings, music videos, novels, cartoons and visual art, in think pieces about music, literature, art, and popular culture, but also in articles about technological developments on the African continent. In addition, the term is found in scholarly literature on similar topics, in book titles (Womack 2013; Anderson and Jones 2016 ) or as a key term related to black speculative fiction and black science fiction . A third area where the term is found is on social media—arguably foremost on Twitter and Tumblr—as well as in real-life community work, such as the Black Quantum Futurism Collective in Philadelphia.¹ With the Black Speculative Arts Movement and similar projects, conventions, conferences, and seminars draw together artists, activists, academics, and fans.² With this much attention, it is as if Afrofuturism has been around for a long time, and that no explanation for what it means is needed. But while the number of articles, blog posts, and social media updates on Afrofuturism contributes to a feeling that it has been here for ages, it is still common that radio shows and interviews begin with the question “what is Afrofuturism, then?” Here one should probably add that the phenomena described by the term Afrofuturism are much older than the term itself. In that sense, its history is much longer than 25 years, and interesting dimensions of this discourse, to which this book will contribute, are re-readings of the past, negotiations of received stories, and establishing counter-histories to normative history.

Today it has come to the point where some artists seem to feel the hype is such that they want to distance themselves from the term, as happened at the Moogfest in 2016. As part of the panel “Can You Remember the Future?” Hieroglyphic Being seemed to ridicule the term. On the same panel the producer duo Christian Rich , consisting of the brothers Taiwo Hassan and Kehinde Hassan, began by claiming that they had never heard of the term until a couple of hours earlier. Somewhat surprisingly, Janelle Monáe distanced herself from the term as well, although she claims to be an “Afro futurist” on her Instagram profile, and her albums have contributed to the mainstreaming of elements of the Afrofuturist discourse.³ That artists attempt to distance themselves from a term is nothing new, and I do not think one needs to pay particular attention to this. Even if the musicians claim not to be Afrofuturists, it is still perfectly reasonable to read them, their music, and art from within the Afrofuturist discourse or through the lens of Afrofuturism. The question why artists would want to distance themselves from the term is still of interest. It is, in a sense, the other side of the coin as to why scholars and critics attempt to delineate Afrofuturism somewhat more explicitly, so as to say, for example, that not every music video containing a spaceship should by necessity be seen as the latest example of Afrofuturism. The media attention, the hype, the possible overuse of the term, may make it less clear, less explicit, and less edgy.

The question of how to understand Afrofuturism is important here at the outset, and I advocate exploring which other terms exist in its vicinity, terms that may help to distinguish between Afrofuturism and related movements or concepts. That said, this is not a book solely about Afrofuturism. “Black sound studies” is also part of the book’s title, and while scholars have raised questions as to whether any of these concepts or terms refer to something actually existing, it is my argument that in the still undefined field where these two concepts meet something important takes place. What emerges are lines of thought that can be used for study and new discussion of black sonic culture, black studies, popular music studies, and a number of other disciplines or sub-disciplines as well. Whereas Afrofuturism and black sound studies are not thought of as perspectives excluding each other, much of my argument happens where they partly overlap, and engaging these points of overlap may clarify differences as well as similarities. As such, black sound studies is of importance for a number of artistic practices, both within and outside of Afrofuturism. Thus, here in the introduction I will give some preliminary thought on Afrofuturism and black sound studies as points of departure for the discussions in this book.

Afrofuturism

While Dery coined the term back in 1993, in his article “Black to the Future,” other authors where working with similar ideas around the mid 1990s, most notably John Corbett , Kodwo Eshun , Mark Sinker, and Greg Tate.⁴ These five critics, while not necessarily in full agreement or adopting the same focus, can thus the contributors from where the discourse on Afrofuturism emerged. Another necessary addition to these texts is the movie The Last Angel of History (1996, directed by John Akomfrah ); the movie is important both for its themes and discourses of Afrofuturism, and at the same time it raises a number of questions about what Afrofuturism is. Towards the end of the decade Eshun , who is also present in The Last Angel of History , used the term “sonic fiction ” in the subtitle of his book, More Brilliant Than The Sun: Adventures in Sonic Fiction; the subtitle highlights that sound and the sonic have been an inherent part of Afrofuturism. Dery’s is not the only definition, but it functions as a point of origin and is still worthwhile remembering and putting in conversation with other definitions to see what Afrofuturism is or can be today. His introduction opens by asking about the absence of African-American science fiction authors, and moves on to the much-quoted definition:

Speculative fiction that treats African-American themes and addresses African-American concerns in the context of twentieth-century technoculture – and, more generally, African-American signification that appropriates images of technology and a prosthetically enhanced future – might, for want of a better term, be called ‘Afrofuturism’. (Dery 1994, 180)

The definition highlights a number of central dimensions, foremost of which is the speculative, the African-American context, the relation to “technoculture ,” and the “prosthetically enhanced future.” He immediately, however, moves on to point to a “troubling antinomy” within the term, a kind of inherent contradiction or incompatibility in it.

Can a community whose past has been deliberately rubbed out, and whose energies have subsequently been consumed by the search of legible traces of its history, imagine possible futures? Furthermore, isn’t the unreal estate of the future already owned by the technocrats, futurologists, streamliners, and set designers – white to a man – who have engineered our collective fantasies ? (Dery 1994, 180)

This antinomy, then, relates to time and history in all different modalities. The future is dependent upon the past, and therefore the understanding of an African-American culture addressing the future is simultaneously taking part in a conversation about history and time. The future in and of Afrofuturism is thus at stake in an emphatic sense, not only in relation to the historical, European futurism , but also in addressing the place and space of the African American presence in the past and the present. As such, Dery’s discourse points to the necessity of counter-histories , of searching for legible traces of black history, so as to be able to imagine possible futures. After these much-quoted passages, however, Dery moves on to a much more open definition, writing that “African-American voices have other stories to tell about culture, technology , and things to come ” (Dery 1994, 182). “If there is an Afrofuturism,” he adds, “it must be sought in unlikely places, constellated from far-flung points ” (Dery 1994, 182). From this he moves on to mention a number of artists where this possible Afrofuturism may be sought, while simultaneously opening up the possibility that there might not be an Afrofuturism at all. At the same time, however, this particular definition, in all its openness, points to other stories coming out of the African-American community. These voices , he writes, have “other stories to tell about culture, technology , and things to come,” and I have taken the liberty of lifting these three categories out of his text and use them in my subtitle. This is done in homage to Dery , but it is also my way of opening up the concept and trying to continue to write in relation to what Afrofuturism may be. This part of Dery’s text is also quoted by Alondra Nelson in her “Introduction: Future Texts”, from the Afrofuturism issue of Social Text. She explicitly opts for a broad definition of the concept:

Afrofuturism can be broadly defined as ‘African American voices’ with ‘other stories to tell about culture, technology , and things to come’. The term was chosen as the best umbrella for the concerns of ‘the list’ – as it has come to be known by its members – ‘sci-fi imagery, futurist themes, and technological innovation in the African di...