Afrofuturism: Building a Beloved Future
To honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s life and legacy, the Rowland Hall community will engage in a series of events and conversations to prompt reflection and foster solidarity towards action. Dr. King’s articulation of the “beloved community” emphasizes the necessity of individuals uniting across differences to build a trusting, loving, and better world for all. This year, we will explore the theme of Afrofuturism as a way to imagine a beloved future together, one where everyone can be themselves in multifaceted ways.
Afrofuturism is a cultural aesthetic that engages science, technology, and the arts to envision possible futures through a Black cultural lens. As Rio Cortez, author of Golden Ax and one of our featured guests, defines it:
Afrofuturism “seeks to envision a future for Black people at the intersection of imagination and science fiction, a future that also seeks to remember the Black past…”
Afrofuturism prompts us to ask: who occupies our imaginations? When we dream of the future, who is included or left out? Our community will engage these questions to examine historical and contemporary barriers to the inclusion of Black individuals and communities within our collective imagination. Through poetry, dance, discussion, and reflection, community members will confront the limitations of their imaginaries in order to expand their horizons towards greater inclusion and possible futures for all.
At a time of increasing division, Building a Beloved Future encourages each of us to recognize our role in working towards realizing Dr. King’s vision of becoming the beloved community through love, understanding, and solidarity.