Image via Willie Wasson, President of MWTS

By Dylen Richmond, Staff Writer

On Thursday, the Morehouse Writing and Thinking Society (MWTS) hosted its Afrofuturism Workshop led by Morehouse English professor Tanya Clark. Her goal was to introduce students to the concept of Afrofuturism.

Clark began her workshop by posing the question: “What do you think of when you hear the term Afrofuturism?”

Wakanda, “technology, liberation and other responses were put on the board. Clark pointed to the answers and explained how each one had its own space within Afrofuturism. She emphasized that Afrofuturism is a broad genre that relates to the black experience across the diaspora.

After an attendee asked how Clark felt about Afrofuturism being coined by Mark Dery, a white man, she expanded on  the definition of Afrofuturism by explaining that it goes beyond its original intention. Dery coined the term to describe the Black sci-fi writers he was interviewing.

Morehouse junior Kye Henderson’s  favorite part of the program was discussing how Afrofuturism can be applied to diverse fields.

“It is a frame of thinking driven from the lived experience of Black people,” Henderson said.

Avery Watson, a freshman English major and the vice president of MWTS, enjoyed seeing the event’s turnout.

“I want to make [MTWS] a safe house for any writer,” Watson said.

The reactions he experienced afterward were particularly profound. People told him that MWTS was like a home away from home, this is what mattered to him most.

Willie Wasson, the president of MWTS, was especially excited about this event. 

“Our goal is to create a space for writers, not just for Morehouse but the AUC,’’ Wasson said.

Afrofuturism to Wasson is giving people a liberated space to express themselves in. The Morehouse Writing and Thinking Society has a sort of mantra that follows Ubuntu, an ancient African word that translates to: I am what I am because of who we all are.

“I see the AUC as a real-life Wakanda. There is Black excellence and Black intelligence all around us.” Clark said.

To her and many others, the AUC is Afrofuturism.

Copy Edited by: Hunter Bonaparte, Arts and Entertainment Coordinator