Sound, Performance, and Lyrics

One recurring question I answer is how Afrofuturism differs from or is connected to previous artistic moments. My answer is always that it has roots that we can see in other movements, but there are elements of Afrofuturism that offer a different take on the future, even as it wrestles with the past. This panel from the Institute of the Arts and Sciences - UC Santa Cruz is worth watching. It calls attention to the ways Sun Ra and other jazz musicians offered a vision of the transformation and liberation.