Afrofuturism reclaims racial otherness by recasting disenfranchisement as alien, using technology to become 'out of this world'

Afrofuturism is the practice of reclaiming and controlling the dialogue of one’s racial otherness by becoming ‘out of this world’ through technology and sheer strangeness — recasting disenfranchisement as literally alien and tapping science fiction’s treatment of the alien as awe-inspiring and superior. Its production practices (sampling, remixing, first performed live by African American DJs) are inextricably associated with it, and scholar Steve Goodman calls it a driving force behind jungle, dubstep, and nearly every major recent dance-music innovation. Its compatibility with industrial music’s technophilia is self-evident, which is why the two scenes crossed over via Bristol dub. For a live-coding curriculum this is foundational genealogy: much electronic dance vocabulary carries an Afrofuturist reclamation of technology.

Examples

Sun Ra, Afrika Bambaataa, Janelle Monáe, Kanye West as invokers. On-U Sound stamping releases with copyright dates ten years in the future — a sci-fi reclamation of displacement.

Assessment

Define Afrofuturism and explain the reversal it performs on the alien/otherness trope. Name two production practices associated with it and one dance-music genre Goodman credits it with driving.