Explore every episode of the podcast Afrofuturism in the A.M.

Interviews of SAIC Students

This episode reviews how the Afrofuturism in the A.M. podcast has changed since season 1 and shares Reflections and resources to accompany our meditation during season 2.

Season Two of Afrofuturism in the A.M is a deepening of a process and I hope through your participation this process will deepen further still. I am interested in listening and implementing what was said to me in a meaningful way. To achieve this I have created supporting materials which you can access via my newsletter, website, and products. These resources support me in my design thinking practice, as I gear up to create objects that support future focused creatives just like me. If this resonates with you, consider supporting this podcast by sharing it , engaging through sending me a voice note, or funding it by visiting https://anchor.fm/afrofuturismxdesign/support. The links to support can be found in the episode description, in our episode notes, and on our supporting materials.

Supporting Materials: https://www.canva.com/design/DAFFozISnPo/Aj21KRJ6aHlFHUc6Jx7T1Q/view?utm_content=DAFFozISnPo&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link&utm_source=homepage_design_menu

In this episode we explore Death in American Culture and how that impacts African Americans over time. With the experience of death ever present, how has this affected our lives? Home has become a place of grievance. How do we build community in times such as these?

In the second episode on our #blackstorytelling series we explore the narrative of Motherhood through the lens of @anyadoula_htx , a mother and licensed nurse doula in HTX. In this episode we speak about the role of Design in homemaking and learn just how philosophical the idea of home is for a #blackfamily and begin to understand more fully what it means to create systems through Motherhood. On all streaming platforms and on @allrealradio

Our segment on Black Storytelling starts off with the narrative of Secunda, radio host of Imagine a World on All Real Radio located in 3rd Ward Houston, TX. We think through timelessness of childhood and come across the question: why are children policed and what does that do to joy? As we work our way through memories of childhood as it existed in the past vs. childhood as it exists now we begin to realize that the constant is Motherhood. We wrap our conversation with some musing on the shared story and how important it is to American Culture.

In this brief recap we listen to the voices of Valerie Wade an archivist in Houston, TX, Peyton a singer who studied at HSPVA, and Dr. Toniesha Taylor who serves as the Director of the Communications Department at Texas Southern University. We reflect on the lessons learned during these conversations and prepare for our season on Black Storytelling.

After a year long internship with Artivism Community Art, Janaya Britton Gives Advice on Black Creativity based on her own life.

In this final segment on #blackcreativity we speak to Peyton a 24 year old singer from Houston, TX. In this segment Peyton explores how her education, community, and spiritual practices contribute to her understanding of herself in the face of colorism. We muse on how a designed life can increase peace of mind and aide the cultivation of a creative practice. Lastly, we think about how generational experiences inform our understanding of art and learning.

Some time early this year I had a conversation on the educational experience from a Black perspective. We spoke on the use of education for class attainment. The experience of the classical education that included exploration of the world through the arts was an experience that contributed to an ability to create and think about the world. The ways the American k-12 public schooling system changed after the “No Child left Behind” Act has lessened children’s access to models for high level intellectual thinking. Today the innovation ecosystem is filled with people who had a classical education, but the K-12 education system is increasingly focused on training, not education. Black education is family based however. Much of the history of education in America has been segregated and alienated African Americans. Thus in our history we have models that show how to teach oneself information. In this episode we focus on the education story from  Janaya Briton, a creative student at Texas Southern University majoring in communications. The question I am asking all of us is, what is your education story? How has it affected your creativity?

It is Black Creativity Season! As we begin our meditation on what role Black Creativity plays in Black culture and history we have the absolute pleasure to engage Valerie Wade, Houston based archivist and lead consultant of Lynnfield Historical. In our conversation we explore why African Americans "keep things" such as plastic bags, worn down pencils, and Ivy clippings from our grandma's gardens. We address the crisis of preservation in Black communities and tie how getting our children involved in creating family history projects might just be a solution. Lastly, we round the conversation out with thoughts on how objects communicate through time and what that means for education.

Preview the season of Black Love from Jan thru February of 2022

Schetauna introduces March/April's topic "The Creative Process" while recapping the topic of "Black Love". In this transitory episode Schetauna celebrates herself with the announcement of her acceptance to an MFA program.

To wrap up our conversation on Black Love I speak with my co-conspirator Jalyn Gordon. We review our previous conclusions on Black Love and continue to ruminate on the question, will Black Love save us all? My community member Jalyn says "Yes, but not without accountability". We explore what accountability means as we transition from design thinking surrounding Black Love into design thinking about Black Creativity and the creative process.

Today we get a chance to have a community conversation with good sis Latifah Wright on all things Waiting to Exhale. During the conversation we ruminate on why this film is the perfect way to start of the 2022 new year, and explore how the iconic film helps us understand the politics of Black Love in Capitalism. We ask, will Black Love save us all (?) and use the stories of the women in Terry McMillan's to help us answer that query. Join us for our community conversation this January 2022!

In the final episode of 2021, Schetauna and Tiffany answer the question, what is metaphysics and how does it fit with the idea that Black Love will save us all from late Capitalism? During the conversation we reflect on key takeaways learned in 2021 and gear up for the upcoming season of transformation in 2022.

A weekly meditation podcast that accompanies your creative practice. Utilizing the past and present knowledge of the African Diaspora, we discuss best practices for building a creative life so that we may design our future. Sponsored by Artivism Community Art; Hosted by Schetauna Powell. Listen on All Real Radio and all streaming platforms.

We explore what Black faith and talk about art science and religion

We speak about Black futures.

Learn more about the reason and the mission of our creative production.

This episode Schetauna calls her cousin Essie in Chicago, IL to ask her about the Black Family. During the conversation Essie helps grounds us in what Black family was like in Missippi, speaks about the Great Migration, and how family is tied to faith.  

In 2018 Schetauna had a chance to chat about her work in the arts, her knowledge about Afrofuturism, and her opinion on pop culture. 

This episode I connect the dots between Ma Rainy, Octavia Butler, Zora Neale Hurston, & Michelle Obama as Tiffany and I elaborate on what does it mean to have a Black family in America. I feature the book "We Live for the We" by Dani McClain in the segment I call what are the facts? Then I end this episode with a letter I wrote to my daughter and myself when I was pregnant during the early months of the COVID 19 pandemic.

June 2021 is Black family month for us! The Black Family has been a hot topic in American rhetoric and policy since enslavement. In this episode we explore what it means to have a Black family through the tradition of letter writing that was started by W.E.B. DuBois in the Souls of Black Folk. 

Every year I get a chance to commune with friends from KPFT to speak about my work with the Black Speculative Art Movement. We talk about activism, art, and music. Take a listen to get more context about how to apply Afrofuturist theory in a community context.

During April 2021, Schetauna and Tiffany think about what tradition means when it comes to Blackness. How does faith line up with tradition? We wonder if the well defined idea of Blackness is serving us or hurting us in the long run.

Our meditation on Black Joy is aided by some community perspectives. This episode I explore the role of Power, Sex, Money, Drugs, and Avarice in our pursuit to achieve joy with Janya Britton and Miri Teresa. We learn about all of the ways we can understand ourselves in relation to these concepts. As we discuss we talk about literary faves Toni Morrison and end the episode with some musical inspiration feat Solange, India Arie, Lizzo and more!

During March 2021 we focused on what it means to be joyful from a Black perspective. This episode Tiffany and Schetauna are joined by Miles to ruminate on the ways we can create joy in our lives. We start off by playing a game of five things, then we warm up by defining joy, and eventually we come to a couple of meaningful conclusions on how to establish joyful lives. 

February 2021 we discussed what the futures industry is. We took a overview look at how the future has been conceptualized by speaking about the colonial era, the industrial revolution, and the digital age. During this month we hosted the Black Speculative Art Movement 2021 Conference, and we speak to Dominic Clay to understand how education and art influences our future planning.

During the month of January we had a conversation with Jonte Vega, to gain an outside perspective on Black health. I asked, How does the mind play a role in our well being? We explore the effects of adverse childhood experiences on our health and meditate on what trauma means in context to living a healthy life.

In this segment we discuss the politics of Blackness and health. Lighthearted and joyful meditation.

We continue our meditation on Black health by asking the community what they do to be healthy? In this segment we discuss maternal health during pregnancy & generational feelings towards healthy parenting practices.

The second show in January 2021. We ask what inspires us? We dive deeper into Black health. 

In popular culture, Afrofuturism is best known by its sci-fi imagery depicting the African Diaspora utilizing technology as a tool of empowerment; or  an imagining that employs other worldly environments to emphasize the Alien-nation popularized by the work of Sun-Ra. Maybe many entered the world of Afrofutrism through the gateway located in Wakanda? In whatever ways you have come to this place where African diasporic culture meets at the crossroad of speculation, one central question must have crossed your mind: how can I create this future I see so vividly depicted by many but well understood by few?  This guiding question is at the center of our meditation: How can we create the Afro Future? It is a deceptively simple question I would hear asked by community members looking for themselves in an uncertain world. Certainly, the concepts being popularized through the works of Afrofuturist artists are not new. Somehow though, through our radical imagining they are being felt in new ways. It is my understanding that this radical imagining of Blackness in the future cannot be what it is intended to be without the full participation of everyone searching for a world outside of the one we are presented everyday. A world where Blackness can grow in creativity and peace; a world where the focus of our lives is centered in practices that encourage innovation without requiring assimilation.  Ah! but therein lies the rub! (a phrase that means: that's where the problem is). How do we imagine a world of peace when we do not exist in peaceful times? How do we utilize our culture when, through assimilation we forget what that culture looked liked? How does the African Diasporic community participate in the innovation industry when we are locked out of innovation and creative practices at every turn? So often it feels like these questions are overwhelming, especially for those who wish to use the creativity of Afrofuturism in their live, whether it be through homeschooling, organizing, community outreach, or artistic practice. If these question resonate deep within you, then I want you to breathe. Breathe deeply. Breathe again and know we got this. Now, join me, as I meditate on all the ways we can use our imagination and creativity to design the future. I look forward to what we create.