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Date of Graduation
5-11-2023
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Department
School of Communication Studies
Advisor(s)
Michael Broderick
Kathryn Hobson
Mallory Marsh
Abstract
Predominately white institutions are socially exclusive hostile environments that uphold white heteronormative patriarchal systems (Harper, 2013; Holliday & Squires, 2021; Razzante, 2018). The everyday task of existing on campus is a struggle for students of color as they are asked to enter spaces/places that are not diverse, inclusive, equitable, or accepting. To address the oppressive and dismissive forces of campus, my thesis uses Afrofuturism to reimagine what it means to exist as a student of color at a PWI. Afrofuturism is a “counter-imaginative cultur[al]” aesthetic-based practice that uses creative postcolonial critiques to reimagine future possibilities (Asante & Pindi, 2020; Pirker & Rahn, 2020; Wosmack, 2013). To explore the potential of Afrofuturism to resist the negative forces of campus, I created science fiction vignettes, reflective of experience, in the data chapter through public ethnography, sensory ethnography, Afrofuturistic creative writing via performance and vernacular technology. Derived from vernacular architecture, vernacular technologies are local and readily available tools used by people that are a direct reflection of their culture and its construction through time – they are an extension of self/consciousness that directly challenges hegemonic structures as they create newfound ontological/epistemological truths of what is. The key concepts of culture, time, sci-fi/tech, and liberation emerged through research and personal participation, and they show promise for future explorations.
Recommended Citation
Bright, Collin, "The sounds of the shore: An Afrofuturistic double record performed through vernacular technology" (2023). Masters Theses, 2020-current. 219.
https://commons.lib.jmu.edu/masters202029/219
