AFROFUTURISM
and the Black Speculative Arts
Afrofuturism and the Black Speculative Arts November 8, 2020 Part 2
A THREE PART SERIES (PART 2) SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2020
2pm PST 3pm MT 4pm CST 5pm EST
AN ONLINE VIRTUAL EVENT
REGISTER CLICK HERE
Live Streaming
Website & Facebook
Free to the Public
PRESS RELEASE
Afrofuturism has been described as intersectional, non-linear, fluid, and a blending of the future, the past, and the present to create a mystical union of Blackness itself. It ventures into the territory of dimensional and interdimensional realities existing within and around what we assume to be reality.
The Afrofuturism and Black Speculative Arts virtual series takes place on October 11, November 8, and December 13, the second Sundays of each month at 2pm (PST), 3pm (MT), 4pm (CST), and 5pm (EST).The October and November portions of the series are roundtable discussions, while the December program is the reading of poetry of an Afrofuturist immersion and is curated. The participants represent cultural and literary ambassadors discussing their work and what it means to be an Afrofuturist as well as how the Black Speculative Arts are showcased throughout the African Diaspora.
To register in advance for this program, please click onto: ZOOM. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
The November 8th program will include Samuel Delany, the winner of four Nebula awards and two Hugo Awards for his excellence in Science Fiction. Delany was inducted by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame in 2002. Delany is the author of memoirs, literary criticism, and fiction including Captives of the Flame (1963), Dhalgren (1973), Starboard Wine (1984), and Through the Valley of the Nest of Spiders (2012); and afrofuturist and rheumatologist Glenn Parris whose novel Dragon’s Heir will be republished by Outland Entertainment in 2021; and Eugene Redmond, the Poet Laureate of East St. Louis, an academic, and the editor of Knees of a Natural Man: The Selected Poetry of Henry Dumas (October 2020); and Hope Wabuke, a poet, writer, and assistant professor of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, who writes literary and cultural criticism for NPR; and Avotcja, the award-winning Poet & multi-instrumentalist who has opened for Betty Carter in New York City and uses Afrofuturistic themes in her writings and performances; and Dr. Ayana Jamieson, the founder of the Octavia E. Butler Legacy Network to preserve and promote research and scholarship on one of the preeminent science fiction and fantasy writers of the 20th century; and finally, Dr. Grace Gipson. a Black future feminist/pop culture scholar whose research explores Black popular culture, digital humanities, representations of race and gender within comic books, Afrofuturism, and race and new media.
Moderator
Darrell Stover
Darrell “SCIPOET”
Darrell is a cultural historian, science communicator and performance poet with the DNA of a trickster. His career life has always been an intersection of science and art sifted through history with an emphasis on community and individual empowerment through the same. He is on the faculty at NC State University where he teaches “Black Popular Culture: From the Blues to Afrofuturism” and “Introduction to Science, Technology, and Society.”
What most don't know is he studied microbiology and American Studies at the University of Maryland at College Park and acquired his Master of Arts degree in Creative Non-Fiction Writing from Johns Hopkins University. He engaged in the immunogenetic characterization of retroviruses at the National Cancer Institute and was a science editor for 15 years. He served as program director at the Hayti Heritage Center in Durham, NC and the North Carolina Humanities Council. He found and directed the Spoken Word Performance Poetry Ensemble in Washington, DC in 1988.
He has been published in the Washington Post, the Independent Weekly, Gargoyle, the Hip Hop Tree and in several poetry anthologies. His latest book of poetry is Somewhere Deep Down When. His more recent public programs have been the performance/lecture “Other Wonder: Black Superheroes through Time,” “The Natural History of Afrofuturia” and the curation of a series on the cultural significance of the “Black Panther” film featuring a panel discussion on the science and technology represented on screen.
His presentation of "Dream STEAM: Afrofuturist Dances with the Sciences" at the "Afrofuturism and Indigenous Futurities” conference held at UNC-Chapel Hill expounded on the use of biological science in African diasporic speculative fiction.