As we are in the midst of carnival season, I would like to share something interesting that I learned about carnival in Dominica. The other day I visited my family in Brooklyn and one of my cousins let me borrow his book, Ma William and Her Circle of Friends. Written by Giftus John, who taught […]
Read More Behind the Mask: Playin’ MasToday is the day I entered into this world and one way I will celebrate is with a tribute post to musician Rahsaan Roland Kirk, with whom I share a birthday. “Y’ know, Music is a beautiful thing. When I’m reincarnated, I’m gonna come back as a musical note! That way can’t nobody capture me. […]
Read More Modern Griots: Rahsaan Roland KirkFilm student and Afropunk member Nef Prez premiered her short film, I Am Other, which celebrates various people who consider themselves misfits in society and proud of it.
Read More Otherworldly Videos: Nef Prez’s “I Am Other”Last weekend, I went to Brooklyn for the Soul of Brooklyn Block Party. I was curious to know what was going on there. While it didn’t turn out to be the block party atmosphere I expected, I was able to listen to a couple of steel pan players do their own version of popular songs, […]
Read More Behind the Mask: I Met A Clown…Cosmic Yoruba wrote a piece on Afrofuturism from various African perspectives. Read an excerpt of “’We’ve Been to the Moon and Back:’ Afro-futurism in Music” and the rest at This Is Africa: Although Afro-futurism doesn’t have one clear-cut definition, for the purpose of this article we’ll go with the one that defines it as a […]
Read More What Is Afrofuturism? Part 11: Cosmic YorubaTamara Natalie Madden is a Jamaican artist who has overcome obstacles to use her art to express her “vivid and buoyant” vision of life. For a photoshoot she did for Pangaea’s Garden, she wrote in a recent post, Beauty and the Beholder , “We live in a society where we are judged by our physical […]
Read More Art of This World: Tamara Natalie Madden*Akosua Adoma Owusu is a Ghanaian filmmaker who has created such films as Drecxiya and Me Broni Ba (My White Baby). Currently, she is working on a film project with her uncle, Ko Nimo, called Kwaku Ananse – A fable, a funeral and a spider coffin. The film, drawing from Ghanaian mythology, is about a […]
Read More Moving on the Wires: Kwaku Ananse, Burlesque and Burnt Sugar…A few weeks ago, Melissa Harris Perry gave a segment on her show about the political, economic and historical significance of transportation in the United States. Transportation for Black communities, as well as other marginalized communities, historically have been modes of displacement and transcendence, and the lack of transportation for these communities has meant entrapment. […]
Read More The My-Stery: Let Me Ride Part 1
Sherese Francis 