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.