The term Afrofuturism was first coined by writer Mark Dery in his influential 1994 essay Black to the Future, to provide a name for work which addresses black themes through science-fiction and technoculture lenses. Descriptions of it vary from Afrofuturist author Ytasha Womack, who calls it “elements of science fiction, historical fiction, speculative fiction, fantasy, Afrocentricity, and magic realism with non-Western beliefs”, while others, such as Afrika Bambaataa, take a more gnomic approach: “Afrofuturism is dark matter moving at the speed of light.” Conceptual artist Martine Syms, in her wry Mundane Afrofuturist Manifesto, feels that the idea should be grounded in a tangible reality (“No interstellar travel – travel is limited to within the solar system and is difficult, time consuming, and expensive”).
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