The “Afrofuturism and Social Justice” symposium on Nov. 4 will bring together the artistic and activist concerns of Afrofuturism, featuring Robin James, associate professor of philosophy, University of North Carolina; Detroit-based activist and writer adrienne maree brown; and filmmaker M. Asli Dukan. There will be a direct action workshop, panels and papers by students and a library exhibit. All events are free and open to the public.
Afrofuturism is an increasingly popular global phenomenon in Black cultural expression found in Black literature, film, music and graphic arts. In the words of Mark Dery, who coined the term in the mid-1990’s, Afrofuturism “treats African-American themes and addresses African-American concerns in the context of 20th century technoculture.” Afrofuturist texts imagine futures for Black peoples in scenarios and worlds different than our own.
More information can be found at http://afrofuturismsocialjustice.com/ or contact Donna Holman, dthol@conncoll.edu, or , assistant professor of film studies, elizabeth.reich@conncoll.edu.
The symposium schedule is as follows:
10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
"Black Music Aesthetics in the Era of Financialization and Biopolitics,” with Robin James, associate professor of philosophy, University of North Carolina. Olin Science Center, 014.
12:30 - 1:30 p.m.
Lunch in Cro’s Nest, College Center at Crozier-Williams.
1:45-3:45 p.m.
"Sci Fi and Direct Action Training,” with adrienne maree brown, Detroit-based activist and author of “Octavia’s Brood.” Hood Dining Room, Blaustein Humanities Building.
4-5:15 p.m.
Student Panel, with paper presentations by Arlo Siegel and Issraa Faiz and responses and questions by Milo Cowes, Nikita Terry, Laura Nascimiento and Cam Dyer-Hawes. Olin Science Center, 014.
5:15-5:45 p.m.
Break
5:45-7:45 p.m.
"Revealing the Invisible Universe” and film screening, with filmmaker Asli Dukan. Olin Science Center, 014.
9 p.m.
Musical Performance by Burnt Sugar Arkestra
1941 Room, College Center at Crozier-Williams
Founded by Village Voice icon Greg "Ionman" Tate and co-led with monster groove bassist Jared Michael Nickerson since 1999, New York City's Burnt Sugar the Arkestra Chamber is a sprawling band of musicians whose prodigious personnel and adherence to Butch Morris's "Conduction" system allows them to freely juggle a wide swatch of the soul-jazz-hip hop and rock spectrum. "The Burnt Sugar Arkestra is also a territory band, a neo-tribal thang, a community hang, a society music guild aspiring to the condition of all that is molten, glacial, racial, spacial, oceanic, mythic, antiphonal and telepathic."