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WORKSHOPS & PANELS
The AfroFuturist Affair has participated in, organized, and moderated panels, workshops, interviews, and discussions on Afrofuturism, Black scifi, and range of other topics on culture and community.* The AfroFuturist Affair has also created and developed a series of afrofuturistic workshops that can be tailored to suit the audience. **
WORKSHOPS
Black Quantum Futurism Experimental Writing workshops
- Anthropology of Consciousness
- Speculative Fiction and the Unknown
- Quantum Mapping
Quantum Time Capsule and Do-It-Yourself Time Travel workshop series
Using Afrofuturism and science fiction as a lens and Octavia Butler's novel Kindred as inspiration, this workshop series explores how one can time travel with everyday tools such as memory, imagination, manipulation of language and perception, music, or crystals.
Science is Fiction!, Women in the AfroFuture, and Using AfroFuturism to Examine Reality Workshop Series
This workshop series explores the ways that women and people of color are represented in mainstream science fiction film and literature, and how science fiction "Afrofuturism" can be used to empower people of color and women and used to increase the visibility of positive images of these groups in the media and popular culture.
Portfolio of Workshops and panels
Shaping Change: Remembering octavia butler through archives, art, and worldmaking
Presenter - Black Quantum Futurism, on Applications of Black Women’s Futurist Thought Panel
“Shaping Change: Remembering Octavia E. Butler Through Archives, Art, and Worldmaking" is a conference celebrating Octavia E Butler’s life and work. The conference will take place from June 3-5, 2016 at the UC San Diego Cross-Cultural Center.This conference endeavors to engage these intersecting identities through multiple mediums and fields of study. Participants will consider how Butler’s work helps us imagine a future where justice is attainable and differences are celebrated and consider the following questions:
June 3-5, 2016
portals: History of the future at providence public library
Presenter - DIY Timescapes: Black Quantum Futurism and Alternative Temporalities
Rasheedah Phillips, Author and Creator of the AfroFuturist Affair, will lead a workshop and discussion exploring the history of linear time constructs, notions of the future, and its contrast to indigenous African traditions of space, time, and the future. We will explore alternative temporalities embodied by such cultural movements as Afrofuturism, and DIY theories as black quantum futurism, and their use as practical tools for exploring reality and shaping past and future narratives. Workshop participants will consider how to build future maps and quantum time capsules, shift cause and effect, and the interaction between timescapes and soundscapes.
May 9, 2016
Transtemporality conference at University of Toronto
Panelist, Presenter on Roundtable Plenary – Then Times, Now Times: Transforming Consciousness
The Trans Temporality Conference is a one-day open gathering of scholars, students, community members, artists, and activists sharing our work and thoughts concerning the unique interdependence between narratives and constructions of normative bodies and linear time.
April 1, 2016
Keynote Speaker, workshop presenter at Call & Response Conference
Black Fractals is the official Black History Month program at OCAD University, celebrating the self-repeating spirit of creating and the ingenuity of people of African ancestry. This one of a kind conference is a FREE opportunity for community engagement for all ages to analyze how art can be used as a tool of activism, liberation, decolonization and community development.
February 7, 2016
Presenter, Quantum Event Mapping
Slought is pleased to announce "Future Perfect," a screening and workshop exploring future imaginaries from the New Right to the AfroFuturist Affair, on Tuesday, November 3, 2015 from 6-8pm. The event will feature the Philadelphia premiere of Daniel Tucker's feature-length video essay Future Perfect: Time Capsules in Reagan Country (54 minutes, 2015), followed by a dialogue between the artist and author Rasheedah Phillips, creator of The AfroFuturist Affair, exploring the liberatory potential of language, and the relationship of writing to social justice and alternative conceptions of the future.
November 3, 2015
https://slought.org/resources/future_perfect
Co-Curator, Presenter
Afrofuturism combines avant-garde, science-fiction and other works and reflections from the black diaspora. Afrofuturism is not a new concept; rather it is an active and global movement that covers all artistic disciplines, and wider aspects of culture and activism and is driven by a strong do-it-yourself spirit. WORM has invited one of America’s foremost Afrofuturist artists, activists and thinkers, Rasheedah Phillips (founder of The Afrofuturist Affair to co-curate this unique and exciting event. The festival programme will include speculative workshops, performances, science-fiction readings, films, experimental fashion, video and collage art, dance events and after parties (co-hosted by Pantropical amongst others) sound art and music from artists such as the celebrated Islam Chipsy and King Britt.
Event links
Performances and Programs
Weds programme - http://www.worm.org/home/view/event/30697
Thurs programme - http://www.worm.org/home/view/event/30699
Fri programme - http://www.worm.org/home/view/event/30701
Fri afterparty - http://www.worm.org/home/view/event/46440
Sat programme - http://www.worm.org/home/view/event/30702
- (Sat) PANTROPICAL x 'Afrofuturism Now!' - http://www.worm.org/home/view/event/46438
- Sun programme - http://www.worm.org/home/view/event/30704
October 14-19, 2015
http://afrofuturisme.worm.org/
Presenter, DIY Time Travel Workshop
Conference//Exhibition where we will be using themes and inspiration from Afrofuturism to probe and dissect our visions of the future, from the sociological to the scientific. We aim to bring together a range of theoretical discourse that touch on this aspect, from womanism/black feminism, queer theory to liberation theology and afrocentric philosophy.
October 10, 2015
https://afrofuturesuk.wordpress.com/afrofutures-uk-2015/
Panelist, Parables of the Present Dystopia
What stories about power, difference, and belonging fuel the social crises we face today? How does visionary fiction offer us models for creating new possible worlds? Can the combined insights and interventions of artists, activists, and scholars plot a different course forward? “Ferguson is the Future” is part of an ongoing collaboration to imagine and create alternative worlds that are more just and representative of humanity. This symposium brings together a multigenerational panel of speculative fiction writers, activists, filmmakers, academics, and artists to discuss the historical, present-and-future manifestations of a social reality we wish to create and thrive in. As we work to shape change, we will use this space as an incubator and laboratory to grow new visions of the worlds we want to exist. Please join us for a day-long celebration and investigation to explore these timely issues.
September 14, 2015
blacktothefuture.princeton.edu
Urban Video Project
Speculations: Science Fiction, Chronopolitics, and Social Change Panel
Equal parts performance, conversation, and screening, “Speculations” will explore the role that science fiction and other modes of imagining the future and re-imagining the past have to play in creating real social change. The program will include a presentation by artist, Cauleen Smith; a performance by musician, composer, and ethnomusicologist, Dr. James Gordon Willliams; and a presentation by Rasheedah Phillips, science fiction author and creator of Philadelphia-based organization, The AfroFuturist Affair
DIY Time Travel workshops
April 6-7, 2015
Cultural Literacy Workshops: VIP Guest Speaker
VIP Speakers visit Tree House Books for the Science, Dance, Social Justice, and Environmental Stewardship Cycles of our Life with Books Program. V.I.P.s are successful Black professionals who have excelled in their fields and will be speaking with the young people in the Tree House Books afterschool program. Rasheedah Phillips, Creative Director of The AfroFuturist Affair and writer of science fiction, visited during the Science cycle.
February 2015
Presenting local artists who are taking publishing into their own hands, from producing a literary magazine, to highlighting Philadelphia’s writer communities, to small presses who call attention to emerging and marginalized voices. The panel will discuss their choices to produce work independently and how it fits within current literary landscapes. Participants will have a chance to find out how they do it, and learn the potential benefits and challenges of running a small press or publishing one’s own work.
August 5, 2014
leewayfoundation.org
Panel discussion with Dja Dja N Med-Jay Renpent, N Eternity Reclaimed; Rasheedah Phillips, Recurrence Plot(and Other Time Travel Tales); Cerece Rennie Murphy, Order of the SeersAs famous Mythologist Joseph once mused, "what can mythology tell us about contemporary life?" In this dialogue, writers of Afro-Futurism explored the possibilities and cultural gems within our own "afro-mythology" juxtaposed to a sci-fi landscape and its ensuing cultural implications.
July 12, 2014
Detroit Allied Media Conference 2014
This year the Sci-Fi Track has returned in the form of the Liberation Technologies track, which hopes to use SF (science/speculative fiction) as a tool in fighting oppression, and builds off past tracks and movement building, such as the Science and Social Movements track and the Octavia Butler and Emergent Strategy sessions. Along with Metropolarity and other affiliates, The Afrouturist Affair was one of the organizers of the #LibTech track at AMC, and presented an interactive workshop session entitled "Do It Yourself Time Travel."
June 19-22, 2014
http://amc.alliedmedia.org/
Art Sanctuary Celebration of Black Writing
Presented "Afrofuturism and Do-It-Yourself Time Travel" Workshop at the CBW Literary Workshops and Conference
May 10, 2014 | May 23, 2015
www.artsanctuary.org
Visionary Literature Series w/ dismantled anthology
Various Dates
GIRLS ROCK PHILLY Summer Rock Camp & Ladies Rock Camp
Presented Using AfroFuturism to Examine Reality workshop
Presented Science is Fiction! and Quantum Time Capsule youth workshops
Various Dates
BluDahlia
Co-created an Afrofuturistic maskmaking workshop .
November 2012
Philly FIGHT - Institute for Community Justice
- Presented two Using Afrofuturism to Examine Reality workshops for the Institute for Community Justice program
- Co-taught afrofuturism creative writing workshop
Various Dates
Studio Museum of Harlem, Shadows Took Shape Exhibition
Moderated book club discussion for Octavia Butler's Kindred as part of SHadows Took Shape Exhibition
November 2013
- Moderated: AfroFuturism: Black Myth, Media and Culture panel
View video clip here
- Presented: Storytelling, Science Fiction, Technology and Time Travel
Description: "Afrofuturism" can be used to empower and increase the visibility of positive images of these groups in the media and popular culture. Using Afrofuturism and science fiction as lenses, the workshop will also explore how time travel is accessible to every person, every day. One can time travel with everyday tools such as memory, dream, imagination, manipulation of language and perception, music. The workshop will briefly discuss and introduce participants to ancient African notions of time, space, and technology, and their modern-day manifestations in science. Workshop Leader: Rasheedah Phillips
Various Dates
* Copyright © 2013, 2014 Rasheedah Phillips. All rights reserved. **Outside of the AfroFuturist Affair, Creator Rasheedah Phillips has also developed a number of workshops and speeches related to young parenting, work-school-life balance, self-esteem, young parent legal rights, and other topics. Please see the CV page or email afrofuturistaffair@gmail.com for more information.