Ytasha L. Womack is a critically acclaimed author, filmmaker, dancer, independent scholar, and champion of humanity and the imagination. Her book Afrofuturism: The World of Black Sci-Fi & Fantasy Culture (Chicago Review Press), a 2014 Locus Awards Nonfiction finalist, is the leading primer on the exciting subject which bridges science fiction, futurism, and culture. Learn more about her at ytashawomack.com.

Patrick A. Howell: I have often thought of one’s principles as being both peace and technology because they enable the human spirit to reach its highest form. Having recently read of language being the first and most fundamental technology, it was interesting to see your identification of ‘race’ as a technology. How does race being a technology affect the United States of America as well as global culture?

Ytasha L. Womack: Race as a technology is a recognized aspect of Afrofuturism. We all know that race was created and yet our society maintains these categories as existential states of permanent existence. Race or the notion of being black or white specifically was created to justify the trans-Atlantic slave trade. The caste system that resulted was encoded through law and violence. People in our society have fought very vigilantly to change the system and recognize our shared humanity but the idea of separation continues to exist.

How race functions varies from country to country and sometimes is defined by who colonized the nation centuries ago, the nature of enslavement or colonization, and the reconciliations, if any, that followed. Race is closely related to access, and as access for people changes, race as we discuss it changes as well. Race, like many identities, including gender, religion, etc., is more fluid than we know. This fluidity is attributed to the fact that it was created in the context of limitation and individuals are constantly negotiating their relationship to it. Technologies are created to serve a need or function and discussing race in that is a reminder that it is, in fact, a creation.

Howell: You wrote Afrofuturism: The World of Black Sci-Fi & Fantasy Culture in 2013. With Octavia Butler, Janelle Monae, and Renee Cox there was already the blueprint for ‘Afrofuturism’ but it was not until your book that there was a cogent embodiment of those concepts in a literary treatise.

Womack: The book did help synergize people who were interested in Afrofuturism but weren’t familiar with the term. I’ve always seen Afrofuturism as universal so I’m not completely surprised by peoples’ enthusiasm about it. I just feel that naming a subject is empowering and helps point people to works and histories that remind them they aren’t alone in their contemplations. My book isn’t the first writing on the subject. There were quite a few essays in academia. However, my book is a leading primer that I wrote largely to create bridges for people who approached Afrofuturism in a range of ways but, for the most part, didn’t know they were Afrofuturists or that such a thing had a body of work behind it.

Howell: The trailer for the blockbuster film Black Panther (Marvel Studios, 2018) featured an image of your book. I see the influence of Black Panther as having the ability to shift mainstream culture away from alt-right and back toward alt-left. Are you a futurist? Can you create the future? Do you have any actual super powers?

Womack: Someone once told me that my super power was the belief in possibility. I thought that was a pretty wack super power at the time. However, now I think there’s a virtue in optimism. To quote Rev. Jesse Jackson, you can’t move forward with cynicism. As for the future, people collectively create futures every day through their thinking and actions. Many of us are just not cognizant of how our thought and actions (or lack thereof) shape the world.

Howell: As a filmmaker, your vision and its manifestation create realities in other folks’ minds. Do any agendas—social, spiritual, visionary—color you and your work now or in the next decade?

Womack: As humans we’re hardwired to engage in stories. I like telling stories that remind us of our own humanity, resilience, sense of purpose, and the value of community. I like sharing histories and present actions that reflect that as well.

Howell: What is imagination? Is it a real space? Or is it a private hallucination? Are we, the children of slaves, kings and queens, the imagination of our ancestors? Is there a collective experience of imagination that informs your work?

Womack: The imagination is as real as the dreamer wants it to be. I think Rasheedah Phillips’ work in Black Quantum Futurism is really interesting because it looks at African traditional and diasporic perspectives on time as it relates to quantum physics. Essentially, her work is a reminder that our current take on linear time is a perspective we’ve all been conditioned to work within. Our current perspective on time as linear is like looking at the ruler as the object it measures.

Howell: Politically and socially, America is in a position with the KKK, alt-right, and relics of the 1980s setting a tone a lot of us did not foresee for the 21st century. What does futurist Ytasha Womack see in the distant future?

Womack: People can create whatever they want to create if they believe they can do so. I think it would be great for more people to give thought to the kind of world they would like to see and to really envision what that world looks and feels like. Personally, I like creating spaces that value humanity. Perhaps we should give more thought to thinking about valuing humanity and what that means. Many people put energy into what they don’t want instead of into what they do want. They put a lot of energy into fear and frustrations. Having a vision and taking steps to bring it about is important.

Author Details Patrick A. Howell Contributor Patrick A. Howell is an award-winning veteran of the banking industry. He loves all things Prince, especially ‘Sign of the Times,’ believes Ryan Coogler’s Black Panther is to the 21st century what Godfather was to end of the 20th, and aspires to write as Argentinian novelist Julio Cortázar at some delicious slice of time, in some manner of being, during his life. His early work was published in UC Berkeley’s African American Literary Journal and the Quarterly Black Book Review. He is completing his coming-of-age novel, ‘Quarter ’til Judgment Day’ and is a contributor for the Tishman Review’s Craft Talk series.



