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Student’s name: Bogosi Maema
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Student number: 220019531
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Name of Tutorial lecturer: Ruth Lipschitz
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Module name: Design Studies One
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Module code: BADS0Y 2
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UJ Faculty of Art, Design & Architecture
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Name of Department: Multimedia
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Date submitted: 13 September 2021
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Word count: 1343
TABLE OF CONTENTS
LIST OF FIGURES
ESSAY
SOURCES CONSULTED
ANTI PLAGIARISM DOCUMENT
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FIGURE 1
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LIST OF FIGURES
Designer unknown, Lupin (2009)
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In this essay I will be providing a definition of afrofuturism, I will do this through
the use of supporting information from the prescribed readings I have received
this term such as Jone Johnson Lewis’ texts on the topic. Although I aim to
mainly discuss and define the aims as well as objectives of afrofuturism I will
also be using the popular new fictional television series Lupin to highlight some
of the issues that correlate to the topic of afrofuturism. I will be focusing on the
imagination of counter futures specifically in the aspect of social ideas relative to
the Lupin fictional series rather than technology, myth forms or the other
aspects of afrofuturism.
Afrofuturism is a concept that is deep-rooted mainly in the film genre of science
fiction, it touches on issues relative to the identity of blacks when topics such as
technology, mythology and liberation from their oppressive dictators. The
concept in its entirety seeks to empower as well as strengthen the black
community/identity in regards to the fact that they have been deprived access to
resources such as technology as well as opportunities to advance socially or
academically due to exploitation and violence from their oppressors. Jone
Johnson Lewis (2018:[sp]) states at this point that “afrofuturism can be seen as
a reaction to the dominance of white, European expression and a reaction to the
use of science and technology to justify racism and white or Western dominance
and normativity”. The concept describes a certain set of ideas that attempt to
address past oppression of the black community, in the present through creation
of art and media that entail a different future or rather different possibilities in
the future for the black community. The concept attempts to reimagines or move
past the issues that arose due to European slavery and the amount of death as
well as bloodshed that occurred through the trans-Atlantic slave trade. The
series I have chosen as an example of afrofuturism does a great job of
reimagining a future or an alternate present for the black identity through its
main character Assane Diop aka Lupin. Throughout Assane/Lupin’s youth
growing up in a racist colonial France the series shows Lupin when he is a grown
man and is exacting his own form of justice towards the aristocrats that
discriminate towards the black identity. Yet they contrast that part of his life to
the events that happened surrounding his youth in such a colonial and
oppressive time. The main character Lupin is an excellent example of a
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representative of the black identity/community who refuses to be barred or
defined by the standards of the West as well as their racial prejudices.
Although the afro in afrofuturism is meant to be a representation of African
ideas, aesthetics, ideals, social structures and culture, the term afrofuturism in
its entirety is an African American concept, it is not one created or particularly
embraced by people in the African continent. Most of the stories encompassing
afrofuturism are usually accompanied by an experience of slavery and
colonization from an African American stand point as compared to an African
perspective or in the case of Lupin, a French perspective of slavery. This is one
of the distinctions between Lupin and more classic/standardized tales of African
American afrofuturism, Lupin focuses on a more realistic historical portrayal and
counter future imagination rather than the general American version of the
concept. Where traditional afrofuturism strives to create a false sense of
universalism according to Louis Chude-Sokei (in Steinskog 2018:16), between
all kinds of Africans throughout the world, the show Lupin strives solely to create
a more realistic realism for the black identity in a post-colonial france rather
than striving to unify the entire diaspora through one historical perspective. Jone
Lewis (2018:[sp]) mentions that “The literary realm of magic realism overlaps
often with afrofuturist art and literature. Afrofuturism is grounded in a variety of
inspirations such as black cyberculture”, what I appreciate about Lupin is that
although it falls under the genre of afrofuturism it doesn’t focus too much on
using the imagination to create “a separation of time and space from current
reality” Lewis (2018:[sp]). Lupin focuses on using imagination to give a fictional
twist to current reality rather than imagining a whole new reality, it focuses on
the possibility for the black French identity to fight back against colonial
conquest but with current technology as well as means instead of futuristic/ sci fi
means.
Silvia Bombardini (2016) states that “afrofuturism as a school of thought seeks
to liberate the present from the past, by crafting astral visions of alternate black
futures”. The alternate black future in Lupin is one where a young boy who grew
up under oppression from Europeans and had his family constantly fighting
against the societal pressures of a racist community. Eventually the boy grows
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up to be a high end thief that specializes in stealing valuable gems from the
aristocrat society, the plot of Lupin to me is a perfect example of the “astral
visions” Bombardini (2016) was referring to. Following this connection between
my example and Silvia Bombardini’s words I can undoubtedly corroborate those
two representations of an element of afrofuturism to Jone Lewis’ (2018:[sp])
statement when she mentions that “art is used to imagine counter futures free
of Western dominance, but also as a tool to implicitly critique the status quo”.
Lupin is a piece of art that uses a black main character to symbolize the image
of a black identity actively taking revenge towards it’s dictators for a history of
oppression and the television series does this excellently through Lupin’s theft of
the jewels that are worth millions in euros. The jewels themselves could serve
as another symbol in the series that seeks to address the blood African slaves
have spilled to obtain those luxurious jewels. Lupin stealing these jewels from
the rich white aristocrats could serve as a sort of symbolism in the television
series of the black community taking back the wealth that was once theirs and
as Lewis (2018:[sp]) said “critique the status quo”.
Although Lewis (2018:[sp]) mentions that afrofuturism aims to use the counter
futures it creates through imagination in order to display a historical
reconstruction of the past of the black identity, in Lupin Assane Diop’s history in
a racially oppressed France is the specific historical recreation that takes place in
my example. Lewis (2018:[sp]) concludes this statement when she states that
the counter futures that are envisioned are “not only to envision the future but
to affect it, is the core of the afrofuturist project”, where the fictional film of
Lupin showcases this precisely is in elements such as Assane’s ability to fight
colonial laws and aristocrats by himself. Assane’s ability to do this serves as a
symbolic reference of the (French) black identity or as a symbolic reference of
the diaspora’s power and ability to defy the Eurocentric standards that govern
our ‘modern’ world. Where Lewis (2018:[sp]) continues to state that there were
certain technologies or barriers that were put in place in order to impose
oppressive laws upon black people globally, these technologies include but are
not limited to money and language. The show Lupin expands on the point that
Lewis is making because there are countless instances in the show where the
unequal status quo is prevalent and is used as a tool or a technology to lord over
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everybody who is considered inferior. Brandon Sutton (2019:[sp]) mentions that
“Afrofuturism seeks to reweave and disrupt dominant narratives regarding the
relationship between race and technology”, in Lupin the character Assane Diop is
a symbolic reference of a representation of black identity that disrupts dominant
or standardized narratives of race and is thus a suitable portrayal of the concept
of afrofuturism as a whole.
In conclusion afrofuturism is a concept that is deep-rooted mainly in the film
genre of science fiction but the show Lupin strives solely to create a more
realistic realism for the black identity in a post-colonial france rather than
striving to unify the entire diaspora through one historical perspective.
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FIGURE 1 Designer unknown, Lupin (Lupin 2021)
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SOURCE LIST
Bombardini, S. 2016. Afrofuturism. Modern Weekly, China [O]
Available https://www.academia.edu/31014366/Afrofuturism
Accessed 12 September 2021
Johnson Lewis, Jone. 2018. Afrofuturism: Imagining an Afrocentric future.
Rejecting Eurocentric dominance and normalization. ThoughtCo. [O]
Available: https://www.thoughtco.com/afrofuturism-definition-4137845
Accessed 27 July 2019.
Lupin. 2021. [O]. Available: https://netflix.fandom.com/wiki/Part_1_(Lupin)
Accessed 12 September 2021
Sutton, Brandon. 2019. Shadows cast by imaginary worlds: Afro Past, Present,
and Future Isms. The Culture Crush [O] Available
https://www.theculturecrush.com/shadows-cast-by-imaginary-worlds
12 September 202110 September 2019.
Steinskog, E. 2018. Afrofuturism and Black Sound Studies: Culture, Technology,
and Things to Come. London: Palgrave MacMillan.
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APPENDIX B
ASSIGNMENT COVER PAGE / ANTI-PLAGIARISM DECLARATION
University of Johannesburg
Department: Multimedia
ASSIGNMENT COVER PAGE
Title: Semiotic Analysis
Full name: Bogosi Maema
Student number: 220019531
Course: Design Studies
Lecturer: KARIN BASEL
Due date: 13 September 2021
1. Plagiarism is to present someone else’s ideas as my own.
2. Where material written by other people has been used (either from a
printed source or from the internet), this has been carefully acknowledged
and referenced. I have used the Geneva Convention for citation and
referencing. Every contribution to and quotation from the work of other
people in this essay has been acknowledged through citation and
reference.
3. I know that plagiarism is wrong.
3.1 I understand what plagiarism is and am aware of the University’s policy in
this regard.
3.2 I know that I would plagiarise if I do not give credit to my sources, or if I
copy sentences or paragraphs from a book, article or Internet source
without proper citation.
3.3 I know that even if I only change the wording slightly, I still plagiarise when
using someone else’s words without proper citation.
3.4 I declare that I have written my own sentences and paragraphs throughout
my essay and I have credited all ideas I have gained from other people’s
work.
4. I declare that this assignment is my own original work.
5. I have not allowed, and will not allow, anyone to copy my work with the
intention of passing it off as his or her own work.
SIGNATURE Bogosi Maema DATE 13 September 2021
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