Afrofuturism- The sustainability of African development (Essay Sample)

Student’s Name: Professor’s Name: Course Title: Date: Afrofuturism Afrofuturism is an idea that seeks to address the concerns of the African people and determine the integration of the African or African-American cultures and technological developments. The concepts utilize the technological infrastructures to explore the lives of blacks across the world in a bid to handle the past segregation and focus on future expectations of the people of African origin in the diaspora settings. The future of the blacks has been among the most significant concerns of the modern age as the world exhibits notable strides in encouraging a unified environment that is devoid of segregation along racial lines (O'Connell 73). The destination is, however, a work in progress as blacks continue to experience subtle instances of discrimination in the social, economic as well as political facets of contemporary life. The segregation has been seen to spur heightened efforts by artists and thinkers to expose the theme of racial segregation on blacks and use the platform as a channel to chart the future of black development. The racial discrimination against the blacks is a critical component of sustainability in diaspora locations and deliberations need to be in place to ensure uniformity in thought patterns to foster peaceful coexistence of humanity. Racialism is an old practice that has been in operation in most places especially in the western world and Europe. Though the discrimination entailed the whites against the other races, the full intensity of the vice fell on the blacks. Other races, therefore, developed a culture that perceived the blacks as inferior human beings with limited intellectual abilities to drive any developmental processes in their societies. The theme of racialism runs extensively in the selected study material especially in W.E.B. DuBois’s “The Comet” and Derrick Bell’s “Space Traders.” The authors use the idea of Afrofuturism to explore the lingering threats to the total freedom of blacks in the modern and future society (Du Bois 38). The increasing advancements in technology and intellectual resources have not played the role of reducing the vice of racial discrimination to the expected levels. It would be appropriate to assert that what we now consider as freedom and tremendous decline in racialism is just a stage-managed turn of events that the, hitherto, superior races use to communicate their apparent intimacy with a free and equal world. The science fiction story by Du Bois details the story of a black man named Jim Davis who finds himself in an after-comet situation with a white woman named Julia. The events in the story depict the deliberate application of the concept of Afrofuturism by the author in exploring the future-past of the blacks in a world that is increasingly split. The depiction of a black man as the lower-cadre employee sent to the deep bank vaults to retrieve records is a clear determination of the forced position of the inferior race in the society (Du Bois 42). On the organizational level, African-Americans and blacks, in general, go through immense psychological, social and economic pain due to the racialism meted on them. The fact that the author plots the story in such a manner that the black man was among the survivors alongside the white woman points to the realization that blacks have equal abilities as other members of the society. It is an excellent idea that enhances the understanding of Afrofuturism as people get the image of the equal role that Africans and African-Americans play in the establishment of various attributes of the community. In the process of developing the concept of Afrofuturism, the theme of lingering racialism arises to reveal the realities of the past, current a future of the plight of blacks. The dismissal of Jim by Julia in Du Bois’ story further bolsters the efforts of the proponents of Afrofuturism. It indicates the lingering sense of inferiority placed on the blacks as a lesser race. The unity of blacks in the face of persistent racial discrimination comes out clearly in the story by Du Bois at the point where a woman emerges from the crown to embrace Jim. The indication of a common fight for the freedom and equality of blacks is one of the strongest pillars that hold the idea of Afrofuturism to propel it in the highly resistant environment. The freedom and sense of equality and belonging in the society, especially in the diaspora countries is an aspect that raises questions whenever hard decisions need to be made. The story by Derrick Bell gives an excellent perception of the plight of blacks in a white-dominated country. The decision by the government to trade the blacks for gold is a direct indication of the lingering theme of racialism in white-dominated countries (Coates 54). The entry of aliens is a technological way of looking at threats that would hamper the emancipation efforts to set the black race free from the chains of objectification and inequality. The author propels the idea of Afrofuturism by developing the story from a technological standpoint. It is an effort to show how technological attributes get fused with the concerns of Africans and African-Americans in foreign societies. The fact that the country’s cabinet and government authorities are ready to exchange the black population is another pointer to the plight of the inferior race in the diaspora environment. Objectification in the age of technological advancements plays a central role in driving the campaign of Afrofuturism. The effect of economic dynamics in decision-making scenarios involving the blacks are depicted in the fiction-story by Derrick and that further aggravates the theme of racial discrimination as the blacks get perceived as goods to be sold for an economic gain (O'Connell 81). The old perception still operates in a highly technologically developed society. Afrofuturism also recognizes the theme of racialism and determines that the racial segregation transcends any personal values in the black population such as the education levels or professional standing. The professor of economics in the story by Derrick Bell is not spared by the decision to trade blacks for gold. The fact that the problem cuts across all blacks withou...