Afrofuturism
African speculative aesthetics
Afrofuturism is a cultural and artistic movement combining science fiction, fantasy, and African diasporic traditions to envision Black futures and reimagine Black history.
The term, coined in 1993, encompasses literature, music, visual art, and film that center Black experience in speculative worlds—from Octavia Butler's novels to Janelle Monáe's albums.
Afrofuturism explores themes of technology, identity, displacement, and liberation through an Afrocentric lens: Afrofuturism asks what space travel looks like when Africans are the explorers, not the colonized. (Lowercase afrofuturism is sometimes used but less standard.)
Genre of imagined realities
- diasporaScattered population sharing origins
- science fictionSpeculative fiction with technological themes
- space operaDramatic sci-fi in cosmos
- cyberpunkDystopian tech-noir fiction
alternative history · retrofuturism · visual art · graphic novels · animation · multimedia · Black Panther · Octavia Butler
Release from constraint
- decolonizationEnding imperial control
- pan-AfricanismMovement for African unity
- blacknessComplete absence of light
- ancestryFamily line of descent
cosmology · emancipation · postcolonialism · cultural identity · utopia · dystopia · reclamation · reimagining
Pertaining to the universe
- metallicResembling ore-based elements
- geometricRelating to mathematical shapes
- tribal patternsTraditional indigenous designs
- kenteGhanaian ceremonial woven cloth
pyramids · spacecraft · body modification · braids · locs · cyborg · bioluminescent · holographic
Communication and control science
- biotechnologyEngineering using living systems
- artificial intelligenceMachines mimicking human thought
- virtual realityComputer-created interactive environment
- space explorationInvestigating the cosmos beyond Earth
transhumanism · cyberspace · robotics · Wakanda · vibranium · biomechanical · spacefaring · innovation
speculative fiction
Genre of imagined realities
- diasporaScattered population sharing origins
- science fictionSpeculative fiction with technological themes
- space operaDramatic sci-fi in cosmos
cyberpunk · alternative history · retrofuturism · visual art · graphic novels · animation · multimedia · Black Panther · Octavia Butler · Parliament-Funkadelic
liberation
Release from constraint
- decolonizationEnding imperial control
- pan-AfricanismMovement for African unity
- blacknessComplete absence of light
ancestry · cosmology · emancipation · postcolonialism · cultural identity · utopia · dystopia · reclamation · reimagining · self-determination
cosmic
Pertaining to the universe
- metallicResembling ore-based elements
- geometricRelating to mathematical shapes
- tribal patternsTraditional indigenous designs
kente · pyramids · spacecraft · body modification · braids · locs · cyborg · bioluminescent · holographic · Egyptian
cybernetics
Communication and control science
- biotechnologyEngineering using living systems
- artificial intelligenceMachines mimicking human thought
- virtual realityComputer-created interactive environment
space exploration · transhumanism · cyberspace · robotics · Wakanda · vibranium · biomechanical · spacefaring · innovation · invention
Afrofuturismsocial realism
Unidealized portrayal of workers' lives
naturalism · kitchen sink realism · protest literature · historical fiction · slave narratives
future, Africa, futuristic, African, futures, futurist, futurism, futurity, Afrocentrism