African 605: Black Futurism and Pan African Returns

How can we evaluate the seminal ideas of Africa’s independence-era leaders such as Nyerere, Nkrumah and Cabral as forms of proto Afro-Futurism? What affinities do these movements have today with African Futurism in literature and the arts, Africapitalism in Development Studies, and indigenous knowledge in Cultural Studies, philosophy and liberation movements. This course will examine both historical ideas of Pan Africanism, the roots/routes of its proponents in the Black world, and contemporary projects focused on national development. As an upper-level graduate seminar, students are expected to participate deeply in course themes and lead in the discussion.

Sample Texts:

• Consciencism by Kwame Nkrumah
• Worldmaking after Empire: The Rise and Fall of Self-Determination, by Adom Getachew
• Africapitalism by Uwafiokun Idemudia, Kenneth Amaeshi
• Black Awakening in Capitalist America by Robert Allen
• One Day I Will Write About this Place by Binyavanga Wainaina
• Efua Sutherland (selected plays and audio-dramas)