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Black Apocalypse: Afrofuturism at the End of the World (American Studies Now: Critical Histories of the Present)
Juxtaposing the world-building of afrofuturism and the world-negating of afropessimism to show how both movements have offered us critical resources of hope.
Science fiction imagines aliens and global crises as world-unifying events, both a threat and promise for the future. Black Apocalypse is an introduction to the past and present of black engagement with speculative futures. From Octavia Butler to W.E.B. Du Bois to Sun Ra, Tavia Nyong’o shows that the end of the world is crucial to afrofuturism and reframes the binary of afropessimism and afrofuturism to explore their similarities.
Interweaving black trans, queer, and feminist theories, Nyong'o examines the social, technological, and existential threats facing our species and reflects on shifting anxieties and hopes for the future. Exploring the apocalypse in movies, art, literature, and music, this book considers the endless afterlives of slavery and inequality and revives the radical black imagination to envision the future of blackness. Black Apocalypse argues that black aesthetics take us to the edge of this world and into the next.
Science fiction imagines aliens and global crises as world-unifying events, both a threat and promise for the future. Black Apocalypse is an introduction to the past and present of black engagement with speculative futures. From Octavia Butler to W.E.B. Du Bois to Sun Ra, Tavia Nyong’o shows that the end of the world is crucial to afrofuturism and reframes the binary of afropessimism and afrofuturism to explore their similarities.
Interweaving black trans, queer, and feminist theories, Nyong'o examines the social, technological, and existential threats facing our species and reflects on shifting anxieties and hopes for the future. Exploring the apocalypse in movies, art, literature, and music, this book considers the endless afterlives of slavery and inequality and revives the radical black imagination to envision the future of blackness. Black Apocalypse argues that black aesthetics take us to the edge of this world and into the next.
- GenresNonfiction
136 pages, Hardcover
Published February 4, 2025
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June 29, 2026
"Before I thought better of it, I debated titling a section of this book 'Even Worse' to telegraph the point that an insistence on change and becoming is not the same as an ideological commitment to progress."
really impressive in its scope, realism and hope. there were certain notions presented that really made me just take a step back and think for a second, and that's very powerful. the idea that we would not have technology in the way that we do now (our view of robots, machines and AI agents being directly informed by chattel slavery)
cock and balls mentioned yay
a very very insightful trip into the powers of black counter-speculation and its relationship with afropessimism and afrofuturism. there were some moments where it felt slightly unedited, like typos or certain phrasing, but it did not affect my reading experience a lot. i would say that there were concepts mentioned sometimes that could have used a little illumination (like dysselection from sylvia wynter), for which i think there was definitely space. nevertheless, a great great work that gave me a lot of new reading ideas and things to think about!!!
really impressive in its scope, realism and hope. there were certain notions presented that really made me just take a step back and think for a second, and that's very powerful. the idea that we would not have technology in the way that we do now (our view of robots, machines and AI agents being directly informed by chattel slavery)
cock and balls mentioned yay
a very very insightful trip into the powers of black counter-speculation and its relationship with afropessimism and afrofuturism. there were some moments where it felt slightly unedited, like typos or certain phrasing, but it did not affect my reading experience a lot. i would say that there were concepts mentioned sometimes that could have used a little illumination (like dysselection from sylvia wynter), for which i think there was definitely space. nevertheless, a great great work that gave me a lot of new reading ideas and things to think about!!!
Displaying 1 of 1 review