Antoine Bandele, Stephanie Chrismon, and Rashid Mohiddin, three prominent Black writers, whose successes span across fiction and nonfiction, will share their thoughts on the fictional country of Wakanda.
Watch the Video
The World-building of Wakanda
The discussion explored how the elements of science fiction and fantasy intersect with African representation.
Media
“An exploration and methodology of liberation”: Afrofuturism anticipates a daring future.
As part of its Black Futures series, Hart House hosted an event on February 11 — “The Worldbuilding of Wakanda” — centred around the movie Black Panther. Speakers focused on the film’s unique relationship to ‘Afrofuturism,’ a term coined in the 1990s that refers to a cultural movement that imagines — and reimagines — the relationship between African culture and future technology. Read the article
By Joel Ndogmi, Varsity Magazine.
Overview
As part of the Hart House Black Futures series and in honour of the third anniversary of the Marvel film Black Panther’s release, Hart House Literary & Library Committee presents this special panel event!
The discussion will explore how the elements of science fiction and fantasy intersect with African representation and the ways in which the film presents its progressive themes through the unique setting. Above all, we seek to understand the genre of Afrofuturism through the lens of Wakanda’s worldbuilding.
If you have a question you would like featured in the discussion, email us, or use the Webinar Q&A function to ask a question during the event.
Speakers
-
Antoine Bandele
Writer, Video Editor and Story Creator
Antoine Bandele is an Amazon bestselling author in action-adventure fantasy, dark fantasy, sword & sorcery, African American fantasy, and African literature.
He lives in Los Angeles, CA, with his girlfriend, where he produces work on YouTube for his own channel and others, such as JustKiddingFilms, Fanalysis, and more. During the summer he is a camp counsellor. Whenever he has the time, he’s writing his debut series: Tales from Esowon.
Website -
Stephanie Chrismon
Futurist Writer
Stephanie Chrismon is a writer, scholar-educator and facilitator. She identifies as masculine of center and has presented on various topics related to equity and diversity, as well as pop culture, literature and art as critical tools in exploring social justice and dismantling oppression. Core to all of Stephanie's work is Afrofuturism, which Stephanie views as a way of looking at the past through a historical and fantastical lens and using those lessons learned to reshape the future.
Stephanie is also a higher education professional with nearly 15 years of experience working with students, including work in student activities and student affairs, admissions, and academic advising. Outside of work, she is engaged in the Twin Cities writing community; she was a participant in the 2016-2017 Loft Mentor Series in Poetry and Creative Prose and was a fellow in the 2015 Emerging Writers' Mentor Program sponsored by the Givens Foundation for African American Literature.
She holds an MFA in fiction writing from Hamline University and a BA in political science from the University of Minnesota, Morris. She writes both creative nonfiction and urban/dystopian fantasy stories through which her passion for topics around race, gender and sexuality are explored. Her writing has appeared in The Root, Black Girl Nerds, MN Artists, and Water~Stone Review. Her debut novel (under her pen name dc edwards) Bright City was published in 2017.
-
Rashid Mohiddin
Editor-in-chief, Pressed Magazine
Rashid is a human living and working in Toronto. He spends his time bartending for coin and editing and publishing Pressed Magazine, a semi-annual collaborative magazine about the modern condition and culture, emphasizing storytelling and visual art. The most recent issue delved into the complexity of Canadian history and identity. He did his undergrad in international development and loves writing about Africa, politics, sports and culture. He is hoping to build his portfolio as a freelance writer and researcher, ideally without totally selling out. Ideally.
Website