Coronavirus Crisis And Afrofuturism: A Way To Envision What's Possible Despite Injustice And Hardship

'The coronavirus has disproportionately impacted Black Americans, who are getting sick and dying at higher rates than other populations. Scholars have been thinking about how survival elements — like the creation of new music and art — can serve as a form of comfort and healing. This concept is often called Afrofuturism, which centers Black life squarely within the possibility of the arts, science and technology — both real and imagined. In the 1990s, cultural critic Mark Dery coined this term after listening to conversations led by writer Alondra Nelson and others. Over the years, it’s been used to describe a way of being where Black people can take back the trauma of the past by reimagining it, while also imagining the future.' -- Hear & Now