Afrofuturism and Black Sound Studies: Culture, Technology, and Things to Come

247 Pages·2018·1.843 MB·English

by  Erik Steinskog (auth.)

palgrave studies in sound

afrofuturism and

black sound studies
Culture, Technology, and Things to Come
erik steinskog
Palgrave Studies in Sound
Series editor
Mark Grimshaw-Aagaard
Aalborg University
Aalborg, Denmark
Palgrave Studies in Sound is an interdisciplinary series devoted to the
topic of sound with each volume framing and focusing on sound as it is
conceptualized in a specific context or field. In its broad reach, Studies in
Sound aims to illuminate not only the diversity and complexity of our
understanding and experience of sound but also the myriad ways in
which sound is conceptualized and utilized in diverse domains. The series
is edited by Mark Grimshaw-Aagaard, The Obel Professor of Music at
Aalborg University, and is curated by members of the university’s Music
and Sound Knowledge Group.
More information about this series at
http://www.palgrave.com/series/15081
Erik Steinskog
Afrofuturism and
Black Sound Studies
Culture, Technology, and
Things to Come
Erik Steinskog
Department of Arts and Cultural Studies
University of Copenhagen
Copenhagen, Denmark
Palgrave Studies in Sound
ISBN 978-3-319-66040-0 ISBN 978-3-319-66041-7 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-66041-7
Library of Congress Control Number: 2017954888
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2018
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Acknowledgements
While working with the material for this book, and writing it, I have
benefited from a number of interactions in real life and on social media.
Most of the people I know that work with Afrofuturism I met on social
media, and I have been lucky enough to meet some of them in real life.
I am grateful to Reynaldo Anderson, who found me on Twitter, and
who encouraged me to write a piece about Janelle Monáe, to participate
in a number of panels, and not least to come to Jackson, Mississippi for
the Planet Deep South colloquium in 2016. That event also contrib-
uted to my belief that I had a voice to add to the conversations. I want
to thank my fellow panelists and speakers in Bayreuth, Norrköping,
Manchester, and Jackson: Dariel Cobb, Jared Richardson, Tom
Simmert, Tiffany Barber, Lonny J.  Avi Brooks, Florence Okoye,
Rasheedah Philipps, Camea Ayewa, Darion Kareem Scott, Kevin Sipp,
and Tobias C. van Veen. Thanks as well to all the people I met at these
difference gatherings: Linda Addison, Regina Bradley, Kinitra
D.  Brooks, Bill Campbell, Julian Chamblis, Jess Dickson, Hauke
Dorsch, Aisha Durham, Tim Fielder, Walter Greason, Matthias De
Groof, John Jennings, Susana Morris, Kerstin Pinther, Stacey Robinson,
Andrew Rollins, Sheree Renée Thomas, Stephanie Troutman, Maisha
Wester, Qiana Whitted, and Ytasha L. Womack. I am grateful for the
continuously expanding network of Afrofuturist scholars that emerged
from those interactions.
v
vi Acknowledgements
Closer to home I want to thank colleagues and students at the
Department of Arts and Cultural Studies, University of Copenhagen,
both the Section for Musicology, and the Department tout court. In par-
ticular, I want to thank the students attending my class on Afrofuturism
in the spring 2016.
I also want to thank the editors who published my earlier works deal-
ing with Afrofuturism, both in a more popular vein as well as my schol-
arly work: Eirik Kydland, Elisabeth Friis, Mikkel Bolt, Dan Hassler-Forest
and Pascal Nicklas, Mads Anders Baggegaard and Stefan Jonsson,
Charlotte Bailey and Florence Okoye, Mark Grimshaw-Aagaard and
Peder Kaj Pedersen, and Stan Hawkins. The processes leading up to
those publications, editorial comments as well as anonymous peer review,
have been tremendous, and demonstrated to me that writing is never
done solely alone. In this context, I also want to single out Mark
Grimshaw-Aagaard, who saw potential in my work for a book and
encouraged me to write the book proposal for this one. I also thank my
editors at Palgrave and the reviewers of my proposal and my manuscript.
The book would be less readable without you, and may not exist at all.
Finally there are a number of people to thank, for years of friendship,
conversations, and encouragement. Thanks to Joyce Goggin, Jeffrey
Gore, Stan Hawkins, Teresa Heffernan, Kirsten Hvenegård-Lassen, Troels
Degn Johanson, Claus Krogholm, Bjørn Myskja, and Louise Yung
Nielsen. And, at last, to my three sons—Aleksander, Kristoffer, and
Benjamin—who make life important in non-scholarly ways, more thanks
than I can ever give.
Contents
1 Introduction: Afrofuturism and Black Sound Studies 1
2 Blackness, Technology, and the Changing Same 37
3 Space and Time 75
4 V ibrations, Rhythm, and Cosmology 109
5 I nterstellar Space, Outer Space and Inner Space 139
6 Th e Sounds of the Future 175
7 C onclusion: New Suns/Sounds 213
vii
viii Contents
D iscography 219
Bibliography 225
Index 235
1
Introduction: Afrofuturism and Black
Sound Studies
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 litera-
ture on similar topics, in book titles (Womack 2013; Anderson and Jones
2016 ) or as a key term related to black speculative fiction and black sci-
ence 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
© The Author(s) 2018 1
E. Steinskog, Afrofuturism and Black Sound Studies, Palgrave Studies in Sound,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-66041-7_1