Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Sloane Siobhan

@namasteloner.bsky.social

Two of my most recent works were on display last night for the opening, Kindred Spirits in Fayetteville NC. I'm in my afro-surrealism bag right now ✨

#art #blackart #afrosurrealism #afrofuturism #sloanesiobhanart #namasteloner

January 24, 2026 at 5:16 PM

Nnedi Okorafor, PhD

@nnedi.bsky.social

All this. Still.
If I don't say it, no one will. Thankfully, I have a big mouth.
#Africanfuturism

Source: www.facebook.com/nnedi/posts/...

I have spent years telling people that I write africanfuturism. That I do not write and never have written “afrofuturism”, a reductive and America-centric label that gets slapped on all things black and speculative regardless of everything.
I have taken the time to define the term Africanfuturism for people for clarity and understanding of the cultural differences and significance. The distinction matters. I have explained on numerous occasions why I coined it as one word, not two. Why there is no capital ”F”, etc.
I’ve had whyte people push back at me saying that they they knew my own background and culture better better than me and they will choose who I am to be called. I have had black people accuse me of being divisive for basically existing and being proud of my existence. I’ve watched others suddenly scramble to make up their own terms so they, *gasp*, don’t have to use the one I coined (do whatever you like, I don’t care…but it’s cute how it took me stepping up and fighting for space for years for you to step up. Yeah, you’re welcome). People act like they can’t spell or control autocorrect. They act confused, vapid and kinda stupid. They get really emotional about me defining myself, despite the fact that I had good reason to.
The issue is bigger than the name of a category and limited understanding of culture within speculative fiction. It’s about black culture and identity, as a whole.
Now I see it manifesting in a different way with Death of the Author. I see people saying they’re not sure if the main character is Nigerian or American (she’s Nigerian American, naijamerican…and my very first novel, an adult literary novel with mystical elements, was rejected by editors at the major publishers, editors who were whyte AND one who was black, BECAUSE they didn’t know if my character was American or Nigerian. I’ve come full circle). I see some mistakenly saying the novel is set in Nigeria (it’s mainly set in Chicago, though we’ve got Trinidad and Tobago, B…

January 24, 2026 at 4:42 PM

New Lines Magazine

@newlinesmag.bsky.social

African writers are producing science fiction and fantasy self-consciously rooted in the continent, rather than its diaspora.
Kingsley Charles explores what sets Africanfuturism apart from Afrofuturism.

The Rise of a Distinctly African Speculative Fiction

The continent’s writers and directors are separating their sci-fi and fantasy from the diaspora focus of Afrofuturism

newlinesmag.com

January 24, 2026 at 1:15 PM

Milwaukee Film

@mkefilm.bsky.social

February is right around the corner... have you checked out our Afrofuturism: Fates Beyond Fiction series lineup yet??
Check out Afrofuturism and more film series scheduled at our cinemas on our @letterboxd.social: letterboxd.com/mkefilm/list/afrofuturism-fates-beyond-fiction

Afrofuturism: Fates Beyond Fiction

The Guardian’s Ashley Clark has noted that the larger term Afrofuturism has “an amorphous nature” but that Afrofuturist films are “united by one key theme: the centering of the international black exp...

letterboxd.com

January 23, 2026 at 7:43 PM

Jonaya Kemper

@violetriotgames.bsky.social

Indigenous futurism and Afrofuturism are seeds for hope. They are writing about resistance in the future and actively work against colonialism to broaden our imagination. Cyberpunk is uniquely dystopian. The corpos have won. But why? We discussed that what we create impacts the real world.

January 23, 2026 at 7:25 PM

Jonaya Kemper

@violetriotgames.bsky.social

Thanks to the work of Nicole Furtado, I taught my students about Indigenous Futurism and its connection to Afrofuturism, the fetishistic treatment of Asian cultures in cyberpunk, and the connection between California missions, oppression in Oceania, Japanese internment, Slavery and the Holocaust. ✨

January 23, 2026 at 7:16 PM

Amy-Elizabeth

@amyelizabeth.bsky.social

I don't know Dr. Okorafor or speak for them, I am simply a fan of their work.

Here is their post explaining the difference between AFRICANfuturism and Afrofuturism. You don't need to understand something in order to be respectful or kind.

nnedi.blogspot.com/2019/10/afri...

January 23, 2026 at 6:19 PM

dr.joan

@theroguesenna.bsky.social

Or African jujuism I would consider them subcategories of Afrofuturism because that’s just how genres work. Like… do you reject the identifier “black?” I don’t buy the argument that Afrofuturism erases work from the continent or elsewhere. Nalo Hopkinson, Tochi Onyebuchi, Tomi Adeyemi, etc.

January 23, 2026 at 6:17 PM

lexaprogrammer

@homeforinfinitelosers.online

Read the new TOS for tiktok, deleted my account and the app off my phone. Replaced it with Libby and downloaded an afrofuturism audiobook. I wish I could only have facebook marketplace by itself but one thing at a time..

January 23, 2026 at 1:47 PM

pressreleases.urbanmilwaukee.com

@pressreleases.urbanmilwaukee.com

Milwaukee Film February Programming Features Afrofuturism Film Series, Return of National Theatre Live, and More!

urbanmilwaukee.com

January 23, 2026 at 12:20 AM

Justin Mogilski

@justinmogilski.bsky.social

This is an oddly thoughtful read about the aftermath of DEI from an Afrofuturism perspective. It's a humble hybrid of perspectives and research methods.

Most importantly, it cites me in the first sentence to define DEI. www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/14...

www.mdpi.com

January 22, 2026 at 9:39 PM

Midwest BSFA

@midwestbsfa.bsky.social

The locqp opera company is having an Afrofuturism-themed fashion show/party fundraiser next month and I spent an hour yesterday morning figuring out my outfit instead of getting ready for work and it's

a man in a black turtleneck stands in front of a window with perfection written on the bottom right

Alt: A man in a black turtleneck (from one of those terrible X-Men movies) saying "perfection."

media.tenor.com

January 22, 2026 at 7:25 PM

Sistah Scifi

@sistahscifi.bsky.social

🎉✨ Happy Birthday, @ysolstar.bsky.social!

Today we’re celebrating the visionary mind behind The Afrofuturist Evolution: Creative Paths to Self-Discovery — a foundational text that doesn’t just explain Afrofuturism, it activates it.

🎁 Grab your signed copy now: www.sistahscifi.com

#SistahScifi

January 22, 2026 at 6:21 PM

Tangerine Supreme

@teethegem.blacksky.app

If anyone is planning to visit Philly before September 6th, she has an exhibit titled Ruth E. Carter: Afrofuturism in Costume Design at the African-American Museum on 7th & Arch St!

Strictly 4 My Navigators @lizzslockeroom.bsky.social · 2d

Amazing! #AKA1908 🩷💚

January 22, 2026 at 2:33 PM