The power point below is part of a presentation in which I explore the intersections between Dr. Mae Jemison, Afrofuturism, and the Utopian Program.

Mae Jemison, Afrofuturism & the Utopian Program

It also provides a kind of blueprint for a highly scalable (both in terms of academic level and time) potential multimedia workshop or unit within a larger course; this course would be a way to introduce people to:

o  the historical relationship between NASA and Civil Rights & desegregation

o  Some central ideas about Utopia, written by a few major theorists

o  Afrofuturism (exciting!) as a concept and practice

o  The ways in which Afrofuturists claim Mae Jemison – someone with a Utopian program, the 100 Year Starship – while situating, either overtly or by more subtle implication, that claim within a longer history of black musical production utilizing the trope of (space) travel as a mode of emancipation, be it mental or material/physical.

I would very much welcome thoughts, comments, and responses!