OBSIDIAN Meets The Drinking Gourd

"Why is the future assumed to be the continuation of growth? What if it’s degrowth?"

In Part One of The Drinking Gourd’s Afrofuturism roundtable series, our co-creator Safiyah Cheatam gathers with The Drinking Gourd co-creator and EIC Vanessa Taylor broadly to discuss the role of Black Muslims in Afrofuturism. The two are joined by Zaynab Shahar, "a doctoral student in comparative religion focusing on the relationship between gender ritual law and public religious space."

In response to Vanessa's question, "what do you think needs to happen with Afrofuturism in the coming years?" Safiyah later answers, “Afrofuturism…could be a good tool to provide self-sustainable practices. Learning how to garden, make our own clothing, and take back from what a lot of corporate industries are trying to make the only option for us.”

Read the full roundtable via The Drinking Gourd.

The Drinking Gourd is an online Black Muslim literary magazine.

"This space is where Black Muslims can articulate their experiences, passions, and selves outside of appeals to authority or dogma — whether those are in relation to the larger Muslim community or the various colonial empires that make up the West."

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