A Sense of Doubt blog post #1570 - More on BLACK PANTHER and AFROFUTURISM
This post has been in the queue for a long time. It's a collection of things related to the Black Panther movie and AFROFUTURISM.
Starting with... GREAT NEWS! OH HELL YEAH!!
Lagos, Nigeria (CNN)A first time collaboration between an American TV production studio and Nollywood has been announced.
Sony Pictures Television will co-develop three TV projects -- including a series on a 19th-century all-female African force -- with Nigerian network EbonyLife, one of the biggest TV networks on the continent.
The announced TV show is inspired by the story of the Dahomey Warriors, an all-female West African military group.
It will be set in the Kingdom of Dahomey and tell the story of how the women protect their nation.
https://edition.cnn.com/2018/03/29/africa/nollywood-hollywood-female-african-tv-show/utm_source=fbCNNi&utm_campaign=africa&utm_medium=social
http://africanarguments.org/2018/03/06/this-is-afrofuturism/
Afrofuturism is a channel through which artists can go back in time to give old works of art a new, decidedly African identity. This is the case, for example, with Awol Erizku’s distinctive painting , a 2012 interpretation of Vermeer’s famous Girl With a Pearl Earring. Like the black intellectuals have engaged in for over 200 years, Afrofuturism does more than fight the erasing of black contributions to global history: it empowers and reimagines the past for lasting cultural impact.
If life truly imitates art, then art must lead the way in inclusiveness and representations that honour all of us. For Afrofuturism to function not as mere fantasy but as a revelation, it must be mainstreamed by producers and publishers and made equal to white artistic expression. History has been edited and the present is a silencer. But if fact follows fiction, the future will belong to Africa and our storytellers.
https://archive.nerdist.com/black-panther-biracial-identity-essay/
In Black Panther, I found balance. I loved T’Challa right away, but I empathized with Ross’s struggle to navigate an entirely new world. Ross is capable but utterly unequipped for T’Challa and Wakanda. At Sacred Heart, I was one of the top students. At Creighton Prep, accomplishments made me average. At times, I was T’Challa, able to juggle tasks effortlessly and confidently. Other days, I was Ross sitting in that two-seater, wondering how I was going to get through the day. Ross’s doubts about T’Challa reinforced my own apprehensions of white people questioning my blackness, but it simultaneously provided the mirror I needed.
In a world of black-or-white, I felt like everyone was trying to make me fit one category. But I wanted people to recognize that I was both, and sometimes neither. My nerdiness, temper, and countless other attributes were not pieces of me that could be assigned to one racial category and consequently eradicated from my identity. The more I stressed about this, the further I dove into Black Panther where Ross and T’Challa might offer answers.
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| Lupita Nyong'o as Nakia and Letitia Wright as Shuri in "Black Panther." (Matt Kennedy/Marvel Studios/Walt Disney) |
https://www.thelily.com/the-power-of-black-panthers-army-of-african-women/
So often, blackness is
reduced to a painful experience. In spite of what we collectively endure,
“Black Panther” shows us how we can transform that pain into art and triumph.
For centuries, we have been endlessly resilient and that is especially due to
black women.
Toward the end of the
film, all of the female characters make a decision to rally around Black
Panther and Wakanda, despite a level of betrayal. In real life, black women
shoulder movements, too, despite the disposable way in which society engages
with us. “Black Panther” is a story of unwavering loyalty, regardless of the
pain endured.
https://www.tor.com/2018/02/27/homecoming-how-afrofuturism-bridges-the-past-and-the-present/
Sometimes Afrofuturism feels like a wondrous re-centering where suddenly the plasma blaster is in my hands. I’m the one to make the decisions that ultimately save my crew. Tupac told us that he knows “it seems heaven-sent, but we ain’t ready to see a black President,” and there was a time when the prospect of a black person in the Oval Office did seem as science-fictional as a black person at the helm of the Starship Enterprise.
But, sometimes, when I look closer, I see a more ambitious political project. I see the pyramids being built. When Janelle Monáe brings the cyborg into Afrofuturist discourse, it is to make a statement about slavery and freedom and the female body. Her alter-ego, Cindi Mayweather, incites a rebellion to rescue the oppressed. Deus ex machina, except that God is black, and she is female.
So, one arrives at Nnedi Okorafor’s Binti trilogy and sees not only a little black girl embarking on an interplanetary odyssey and building a truce between warring races. One sees not only adventure and action and a little black girl doing cool things. One sees that the very act of centering a black girl in a story can be a radical political, paradigm-shifting act. In Dr. Okorafor’s Who Fears Death, young, impetuous Onyesonwu, a child of war herself, contains within herself immense power, a power to change the very world around her. And it is perhaps this affirmation that lies at the heart of so much Afrofuturism. We are empowered. We can drive the future. Watch us build it.
Afrofuturism has long concerned itself with counter-histories, the lion speaking in the hunter’s place. And now, we are seeing Afrofuturism contend with that central question again of what do we do when the future happens to us. Hacking. Enhancement and augmentation. Surveillance. Even post-human possibilities. Put those themes in the hands of a discipline one of whose weapons is hyperconsciousness of context, and the universe becomes quantum. A corner has been turned. Where before African-American and African discourse, dialogue, and aesthetic back-and-forth may have seemed like two ships passing in the dark, we are now close enough to touch. The Diaspora and the Continent may stand on opposite ends of the bridge, but they can see each other’s luminous smiles. Beyoncé’s short film, Lemonade, provides just one example of the seismic, paradigm-shifting spectacle that can be made of this union, of the dialogue that occurs when we find ourselves having upgraded finally from the telegram to the Blackberry to the beyond where the Blackberry is mere ornament.
Black Panther is another.
http://time.com/black-panther/
https://www.wired.com/story/black-panther-the-ryan-coogler-effect
https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2018/02/10/583497786/black-panthers-mythical-home-may-not-be-so-mythical-after-all
https://camestrosfelapton.wordpress.com/2018/02/19/review-black-panther/
https://theglowup.theroot.com/dont-play-with-our-emotions-black-panther-and-queer-re-1823022917
https://www.tor.com/2018/02/21/8-books-and-comics-for-your-post-black-panther-reading-list/
https://www.tor.com/2018/02/20/black-panther-is-far-more-than-just-a-comic-book-movie/
https://www.tor.com/2018/02/26/who-are-you-black-panther-and-the-politics-of-belonging/
It’s meaningful, too, that the movie also asks questions about global policy and power, and emerges from that questioning with the answer that the Wakandans owe the world something, that they need to be good neighbours as well as taking care of their own. And that would be a hard question to answer in the real world—how do you open yourself up, extend a hand, and try to be truly neighborly in the face of this violent, domineering world?—but the solution seems to be that when you are strong enough to bear that weight, you have to make the effort, to do it for those who can’t. Letting in those who have been cut off is better—is worth more—than continuing to leave them (with)out. Would that this weren’t as complicated as it is beyond Wakanda.
Black Panther exists, on so many levels, to both open a door into a radical blackness on the screen, and challenge us about the very construction of that door in our own world. We get to see ourselves as defined, powerful, with international political agency. We also get to see that familiar question asked again, and answered in style: where does diasporic blackness belong? Who does it belong to? What belongs to it? How do you lay claim to it? How do you share it? What do you struggle against to make a place for it? In the real world, far beyond the cloaked mountain walls of Wakanda, some of us may never stop struggling. But at least here, for a couple of hours in the theatre, we belong somewhere. Somewhere wants to let us in, even when they are of two minds. Somewhere asks us who we are.
https://www.themarysue.com/nnedi-okorafor-food/
“In Wakanda, there are five tribes. Each of them is distinct in their own languages, ways, and history,” Okorafor explains. “Wakanda is an amalgamation of several African cultures. So just as the film pulls from African jewelry, arts, textiles, fabrics, architecture, and music, cuisines of Wakanda would follow the same line of thinking.”
In the story, the nation of Wakanda borders Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda, and South Sudan. The writer uses the location as a starting point, saying, “Wakanda is land-locked in East Africa so we would look to those surrounding countries for inspiration for their cuisines. Wakanda is a very wealthy nation, so Wakandan food would be very rich and have the finest ingredients they’d have organic everything. The animals they’d eat would be clean, happy animals. Much of what Wakandans need would come from Wakanda.”
https://tasty.co/recipe/wakandan-jeweled-vegetable-pilau-with-berbere-braised-lamb
Wakandan Jeweled Vegetable Pilau With
Berbere Braised Lamb
by Kiano Moju
Ingredients
for 6 servings
BERBERE
BRAISED LAMB
· 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
· 2 lb boneless lamb shoulder, cut into
2-inch (5-cm) cubes
· salt, to taste
· pepper, to taste
· 2 medium red onions, finely minced
· ¼ cup ghee, clarified butter
· 4 cloves garlic, sliced
· 1 tablespoon ginger, minced
· 1 tablespoon paprika
· 1 teaspoon cayenne
· ½ teaspoon ground fenugreek
· ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
· ½ teaspoon ground cardamom
· ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
· ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
· ¼ teaspoon allspice
· 2 tablespoons tomato paste
· 2 cups beef broth
JEWELED
VEGETABLE PILAU
· ¼ cup ghee, clarified butter
· 2 medium red onions, sliced
· ½ green cabbage, core removed and shredded
· 2 cups shredded carrot
· 4 cloves garlic, minced
· 1 tablespoon grated ginger
· salt, to taste
· black pepper, to taste
· 1 tablespoon ground cumin
· 1 tablespoon curry powder
· 1 teaspoon ground cardamom
· 2 cups basmati rice
· 3 cups water
· 1 bay leaf
· 1 cinnamon stick
· 1 star anise
· 2 scallions, sliced
· ½ cup cashews
· ¼ cup pomegranate seeds
Preparation
- To make the Berbere Braised Lamb, heat the vegetable
oil in a large pan over medium-high heat until oil is lightly shimmering.
Add the lamb to the pot, season with salt and pepper, and brown on all
sides, for about 10 minutes. Remove the lamb from the pot.
- To the same pot, add the red onions and cook until
brown, for about 15-20 minutes. Stir in the ghee, garlic, ginger, paprika,
cayenne, fenugreek, nutmeg, cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, allspice, and
tomato paste.
- Pour in the beef stock, stirring well to incorporate.
Bring the sauce to a boil and return the lamb to the pot. Reduce heat to
medium-low, so the sauce is at a gentle simmer, and cover and cook for 1
hour, stirring occasionally until the lamb is tender.
- To make the Jeweled Vegetable Pilau, use a separate
large, shallow pot, melt the ghee over medium heat. Add the sliced red
onions and cook until soft and slightly caramelized, for about 20 minutes.
- Add the cabbage, carrots, garlic, and ginger, and sauté
until vegetables have softened and cooked down.
- Season with salt, pepper, ground cumin, curry powder,
and cardamom.
- Stir in the rice and add the water. Add the bay leaf,
cinnamon stick, and star anise. Reduce the heat to low and cook for 20-25
minutes until water is absorbed and rice is slightly fluffy.
- Discard the bay leaf, cinnamon stick, and star anise.
Stir the rice well before transferring to a large serving platter.
- Create a small well in the middle of the rice, and
spoon the lamb over the top.
- Serve garnished with scallions, cashews, and
pomegranate seeds.
- Enjoy!
Ytasha Womack
@ytashawomack
Head Mermaid Author-AFROFUTURISM #RAYLA2212 Director http://lettertotheancestors.com http://barstarcity.com @iafrofuturism @teamrayla2212
iafrofuturism
@iafrofuturism
Afrofuturism: The World of Black Sci Fi & Fantasy Culture (Lawrence Hill Books) by @ytashawomackhttp://iafrofuturism.wordpress.com
The Future of Now
Joined July 2013
Walidah Imarisha
@WalidahImarisha
Writer, educator, poet. Oregon Black history public scholar. Co-editor Octavia's Brood. Author Angels w Dirty Faces, & Scars/Stars.
AfroFuturist Affair/Black Quantum Futurism
@AfroFuturAffair
#BlackSpeculative events writing art workshops c.2011 http://www.afrofuturistaffair.com 1/4 #Metropolarity #RecurrencePlot#timecamp001 #communityfutureslab
Philadelphia
Joined January 2012
Dark Matters
@DarkMattersProj
Raising the profile of POC in genre media & fandom. Our side hustle is social justice. 
https://thisisdarkmatters.org/ & http://darkmattersproj.tumblr.com
https://thisisdarkmatters.org/ & http://darkmattersproj.tumblr.com
Joined March 2014
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- Days ago = 1435 days ago
- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 1906.08 - 10:10
- New note - On 1807.06, I ceased daily transmission of my Hey Mom feature after three years of daily conversations. I plan to continue Hey Mom posts at least twice per week but will continue to post the days since ("Days Ago") count on my blog each day. The blog entry numbering in the title has changed to reflect total Sense of Doubt posts since I began the blog on 0705.04, which include Hey Mom posts, Daily Bowie posts, and Sense of Doubt posts. Hey Mom posts will still be numbered sequentially. New Hey Mom posts will use the same format as all the other Hey Mom posts; all other posts will feature this format seen here.
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