Because many slaves had their history erased by their owners when they were brought to America from Africa centuries ago, Afrofuturism emerged in 20th-Century music, film, art and literature and pointed this exiled culture in a new direction: the future. In this view, Africans are the alien ‘other’ in Western society, stigmatized as outcasts, who must build bridges in their imaginations to a new utopia, possibly far removed geographically and spiritually from the world that is marginalizing them.
BBC – Culture – Janelle Monae: Science fiction in African-American pop
Unexpectedly interesting article on sci-fi influences in African-American pop music. ATLiens, The Cold Vein and Deltron 3030 remain favourite albums of mine but I’d never connected them under the umbrella of Afrofuturism.
