An Afrofuturist’s Archive

Final Project Directory

A Catalogue of Jamaica in the Afrofuturistic Space.

What is Afrofuturism?

The term Afrofuturism was coined by American cultural critic Mark Dery in his 1994 essay “Black to the Future: Interviews with Samuel R. Delany, Greg Tate and Tricia Rose. Initially used to address the intersection of African American themes and “technoculture” in speculative fiction, the term has evolved to encompass the movement of black liberation and empowerment.

Looking towards a black future “void of white supremacist thought”.

It is a space for activism, art, literature and film from the African diaspora that reflects our imagination of the future. The movement is marked by Black Peoples’ use of technology to engineer societal institutions: culture, economy, politics and socialization.

A Brief History of Afrofuturism

As writer Rasheedah Phillips notes:

Many of us were Afrofuturists long before it had a name…we must recognize that the concepts and phenomenon fueling Afrofuturism have been around for as long as there have been people to observe it and communicate it. Whether you call it mythology, ghost stories, parable, folktale, sci-fi, religious tale, or fantasy, people of color have always contemplated their origins in the same breath that they anticipated the fate of humankind…passing down their accounts of what has come to pass upon our people and what is still yet to come.
Rasheedah Phillips, Afrofuturism: A Beautiful History, a Brave New World

Where does Jamaica fit?

Jamaicans have been Afrofuturists before the term was coined. There are artists, musicians, writers and activists who have been invested in positive change and forward thinking. They have used technology and whatever tools available to experiment and innovate within their fields and produced works with themes of liberation and empowerment of Black people and Jamaican culture.

Vision 2030

The Jamaican Government’s Strategic Development Plan 2009-2030. (Audio in link above)

Voice Tag

Jamaicans Speak on Afrofuturism and the Culture.

To navigate VoiceSpice, refresh often and browse pages to access all recordings. For ease of listening, check out these SoundCloud playlists with the recordings below

Survey 1. – VoiceSpice #letstalkJamaica

Survey 3. – VoiceSpice #letstalkJAPart3