Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth: Caribbean Futurisms

Thank you Kelly Baker Josephs for calling my attention to this!

Conor Tomás Reed did a post describing “Caribbean Futurisms” and listing a few books that would fall under the term as well as other sources for Afrofuturism, in which I was included:

“Considered within this conditional crux, Caribbean cultural forms have developed a conscious capacity to play with time and space, especially within the last century. For example, a Caribbean novel can leap “forward,” as well as “backward,” as well as speculatively vault “across” times, because its people have been integral to the creation of how human activity is narratively measured. As well, a Caribbean novel can traverse lands from around this world and others because its people, their ancestors, and new generations travel these vast distances.

These cultural forms–“Caribbean Futurisms”–interweave within a diasporic malleability of “Afro-Futurisms.” Notably, they manifest a uniquely hybridized and condensed position in which Afro-Futurisms can play with Latin@-Futurisms, Indian-Futurisms, Indigen@-Futurisms, Asian-Futurisms, and Arab-Futurisms. Furthermore, Caribbean Futurisms (and Afro-Futurisms) dramatically contrast with, for example, the militarist Italian Futurism of Filippo Marinetti, and the Artificial Intelligence Futurism of Ray Kurzweil, to name a few incompatible projects of the namesake.”

Click on the link above to read the list.

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Barbados Fact of the Day: Memorial Day is approaching, so here is a navy-related cultural tradition of the island. One of Barbados’ most celebrated masquerades is the Landship masquerade. Dating back to the nineteenth century (around 1863), the Landship was supposedly started by a seaman named Moses Wood and combines “navy lore” with Afro-Caribbean traditions. Dressed in navy uniforms, the participants march in straight line formations until a drill master calls out “rough seas” and everyone starts to dance around dance around imitating the image of sails tossing in the wind. Another masquerade scene is “man overboard,” where a crew member falls to the ground and a nurse comes over to revive the member with “quinine” (it is white rum actually). The other scenes are the “plaiting of the maypole and the ‘wangle low,’ for which the crew, hands on hips, dance low to the ground with circular waist movements.” Tuk bands usually accompany the parade. In 1937, the BLS York Landship accompanied Marcus Garvey on his visit to the island and were given the title of “star” in memory of Garvey and his Black Star liners. Click the Landship link above to read more about the history.

Please donate and/or share my fundraiser for Atlantic Impact’s Abroad for a Cause Challenge in which the organization is inviting two bloggers to travel with them to Barbados this summer. Atlantic Impact is an organization that helps at risk youth by giving them opportunities to travel abroad.