This past September, New York City played host to the United Nations Summit of the Future. The conference brought world leaders together to develop a more cohesive, unified approach to tackling current global issues and preparing responses to challenges that will emerge in our future.
Of course, you can’t properly plan for a greater tomorrow without input from our young, future leaders and the communities they represent. That’s why a group of graduate students from Temple’s Africology and African American Studies Department made their voices heard at the Black Paper Chronicles side event. Presented by the Pan-African Women’s Association (PAWA) and the Global Minority Parliamentarians Caucus, Black Paper Chronicles aimed to amplify youth, Indigenous and minority voices in the discussion of our global agenda.
PhD students Patricia Ndombe and Christina Hudson, Masters student Hallie Raikes, and Courtney Carr, who received her PhD in African Studies from Temple in August, were all part of a discussion panel entitled “Afrofeministicfuturism and Co-Futures.” The panel, moderated by Swiss Parliamentarian and PAWA CEO, Yvonne Apiyo Brändle-Amolo, examined the role Afrofuturism could play in shaping a brighter future.
“The panel was a roundtable discussion on Afrofuturism and Afrofuturisticfeminism. We discussed how Afrofuturism could be practically applied to improve the future for all, but African and African-descended women specifically,” details Hudson.
For each of the students, whether they were already seasoned public speakers and presenters or relatively new to things like live panels, the experience was eye-opening.
“Through the presentation, I was able to make connections between my dissertation research, which focused on nongovernmental organization discourse about female genital cutting in Tanzania, and Afrofuturistic feminism,” says Carr. “I discussed similar conceptual frameworks in my dissertation, but I was able to showcase my work on a more global platform with the presentation.”
For Haille Raikes, the panel was an affirming experience. She explains: “This was my first panel and I felt a bit overwhelmed in preparation for it; however, the panel ended up feeling very safe and I quickly felt my peers and I were engaging in an important discussion that we were equipped to be a part of… this experience helped me understand even more the need to make academic and theoretical ideas work for engaging in public spaces. This means making the academic jargon more accessible to everyday people who also deserve to engage in conversations about the world and future.”
“Philosophers, writers and thinkers who offer new knowledge through theory and discourse (which they believe will better the world) have their leadership sometimes critiqued for ‘remaining in the abstract,’” adds Ndombe. “However, one of the most crucial, foundational aspects of Afrocentricity and Afrocentric theory is functionality.”
Elsewhere at the event, second-year PhD student Danian Darrell Jerry spoke as part of the “Afrofuturism and Artificial Intelligence” panel and took part in a presentation alongside other scholars about developing generational wealth.
“I had a wonderful experience. The scholars who presented were all very generous with their time and specialized knowledge. I learned a great deal over the course of the weekend,” says Jerry.
The Black Paper Chronicles brought young scholars together with prestigious speakers and guests for two days, running alongside UN Action Days taking place at New York’s UN headquarters. Sharing space with so many prominent and forward-thinking minds, the students were left with a wealth of new knowledge, connections and, above all, inspiration.
“I made valuable connections at the UN event before and after our panel,” notes Hudson. “I have already been cultivating international relationships over the course of my academic career as I see my research focus as a global issue and the African diaspora, of course, as a global community. This opportunity was really affirmative of that and has motivated me to work even more intentionally to foster global connections.”
“Participating in the Black Paper Chronicles event has helped me begin to strategize how to mold my philosophical/literary research and create practical, real-life solutions for Black liberation,” says Ndombe. “I want my philosophical and literary scholarship to encourage Black human beings all over the world to reconnect and re-center themselves in African culture and in the African worldview. And I want to connect with other Black, Pan-African scholars and leaders on the African continent and in the diaspora who are doing the same.”
The group was brought together, in part, by Dr. Reynaldo Anderson, Associate Professor and Graduate Director of Africology and African American Studies. Anderson is the co-founder of the Black Speculative Arts Movement and a prolific writer and editor on the subject of Afrofuturism. He co-curated the “Quantum: Seeds of the Future” exhibition as part of the event, which received coverage from CBS News. He had the opportunity to present virtually for the UN in Geneva last year, which opened doors for him and his students’ presence at this year’s Summit.
“The event is consistent with my scholarship for the last several years and reaffirms for me the work I am engaged in,” says Anderson. “I think the current moment we exist in will be remembered and archived as the moment when the leaders of the world chose to act or ignore the converging crisis that impacted our tomorrows.”