Overview
- Uniquely incorporates queer, feminist, metahumanist, posthumanist, technological, scientific, mathematical metaphysical, performance, critical theoretical, popular culture, and digital warfare perspectives to critically analyze and speculatively imagine futuristic iterations of Black possibility
- Deconstructs colonial connections to futuristic modes of world building/framing, while simultaneously holding in tension with the need to create from distantly Black perspectives, methodologies, and sources
- Brings together leading scholars to critique current futuristic landscapes and speculatively imagine the future from various Black perspectives
Access this book
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Other ways to access
About this book
Critical Black Futures imagines worlds, afrofutures, cities, bodies, art and eras that are simultaneously distant, parallel, present, counter, and perpetually materializing. From an exploration of W. E. B. Du Bois’ own afrofuturistic short stories, to trans* super fluid blackness, this volume challenges readers—community leaders, academics, communities, and creatives—to push further into surreal imaginations. Beyond what some might question as the absurd, this book is presented as a speculative space that looks deeply into the foundations of human belief. Diving deep into this notional rabbit hole, each contributor offers a thorough excursion into the imagination to discover ‘what was’, while also providing tools to push further into the ‘not yet’.
Similar content being viewed by others
Keywords
Table of contents (11 chapters)
-
Front Matter
Reviews
“Crafting a present from our future and a future from our past is the time shifting charge articulated by this book. Critical Black Futures engages the speculative with an eye to the future that acknowledges a complex history of agency, identity, and both pre and post colonial Black identities. Thinking on legacies and futures, Critical Black Futures maps identity in liminal spaces recognizing that the imagined future spaces and cultural production are portals of transformation.” (Ytasha L. Womack, Author of Afrofuturism: The World of Black Sci Fi & Fantasy Culture)
“Drawing on a broad range ideas and scholarship from the humanities and the arts, Critical Black Futures is an indispensable guide to the intellectual landscape of Afrofuturism. Rooted in knowledge of the past, and looking ahead to craft visions of an uncertain future, Critical Black Futures is a crucial resource for anyone interested in what Blackness is and what it may become.” (David Livingstone Smith, Professor of Philosophy, University of New England. Author of On Inhumanity: Dehumanization and How to Resist It)
Editors and Affiliations
About the editor
Philip Butler is an Assistant Professor of Theology and Posthuman Artificial Intelligence Systems at Iliff School of Theology. He is the founder of the Seekr Project, a distinctly Black conversational artificial intelligence with mental health capacities. His work primarily focuses on the intersection of neuroscience, technology, spirituality and race. He is the author of Black Transhuman Liberation Theology: Spirituality and Technology (2019).
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Critical Black Futures
Book Subtitle: Speculative Theories and Explorations
Editors: Philip Butler
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-7880-9
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Singapore
eBook Packages: Social Sciences, Social Sciences (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021
Hardcover ISBN: 978-981-15-7879-3Published: 31 March 2021
Softcover ISBN: 978-981-15-7882-3Published: 01 April 2022
eBook ISBN: 978-981-15-7880-9Published: 30 March 2021
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: X, 230
Number of Illustrations: 5 illustrations in colour