This reading, to me, was more lyrical than an explanation of anything. But through it's poetic nature and abstract monologue, it becomes an essential supplement for anyone familiar with the ideas of the AfroFuturist movement and is pursuing further knowledge. Having previous exposure to Sun Ra and Parliament Funkadelic, as well as the presentation in the class, i can understand a bit more through this reading, but without that previous knowledge i think i would be completely in the dark. I'm not discounting this as a valuable piece of literature, but I'm saying that is just what it is; literary. It's simply part of a subculture, a movement of people claiming a specific ideology as their own. And that's just fine with me.
I think it's all too easy to assign meaning and metaphor to basically anything, and I think perhaps at times Eshun is grasping at concepts that naturally do not cohere. That said, I think one of the reasons the Afrofuturist movement is so appealing is because it appears to be this extreme grasp for meaning and redefinition where previously there was none. Instead of taking the popular definition of what the African American history means to the masses, the Afrofuturist tries to link the distant past to the distant future, reclaiming the present as something seemingly intangible and under construction. The machine age is well underway, but I don't believe it affects anyone differently because of race or history. What we are is in the present, and the only way to transcend history is to realize this fact.
I find it interesting and amusing that people are so obsessed with and eager to putting themself in the past. Instead of making art reflecting on the past or the current moment, as most art does, this art, fascinatingly enough, neglects both of these to embrace something "new." Tiffany
This reading, to me, was more lyrical than an explanation of anything. But through it's poetic nature and abstract monologue, it becomes an essential supplement for anyone familiar with the ideas of the AfroFuturist movement and is pursuing further knowledge. Having previous exposure to Sun Ra and Parliament Funkadelic, as well as the presentation in the class, i can understand a bit more through this reading, but without that previous knowledge i think i would be completely in the dark. I'm not discounting this as a valuable piece of literature, but I'm saying that is just what it is; literary. It's simply part of a subculture, a movement of people claiming a specific ideology as their own. And that's just fine with me.
ReplyDelete---PHLADKY
I think it's all too easy to assign meaning and metaphor to basically anything, and I think perhaps at times Eshun is grasping at concepts that naturally do not cohere. That said, I think one of the reasons the Afrofuturist movement is so appealing is because it appears to be this extreme grasp for meaning and redefinition where previously there was none. Instead of taking the popular definition of what the African American history means to the masses, the Afrofuturist tries to link the distant past to the distant future, reclaiming the present as something seemingly intangible and under construction. The machine age is well underway, but I don't believe it affects anyone differently because of race or history. What we are is in the present, and the only way to transcend history is to realize this fact.
ReplyDeleteBrianna Didyoung
I find it interesting and amusing that people are so obsessed with and eager to putting themself in the past. Instead of making art reflecting on the past or the current moment, as most art does, this art, fascinatingly enough, neglects both of these to embrace something "new."
ReplyDeleteTiffany