INTRODUCTION TO
COFUTURISMS
Taryne Jade Taylor
Defining CoFuturisms
CoFuturisms is a movement that is found both within science fiction and fantasy and also
reaches past the boundaries of speculative fiction. The concept of CoFuturisms knits together
work being done on the various forms of futurisms by people of color and Global South
Futurisms, such as Afrofuturisms, Indigenous Futurisms, Latinx Futurisms, Asian Futurisms,
and Gulf/Middle Eastern Futurisms. Each of these represent a clearly identifiable movement,
mode, aesthetic, and subgenre. As creators and scholars of these futurisms have noted,
CoFuturisms are more than simply subgenres of science fiction; they are also movements that
offer us paths to internal and external colonization, modes that remind us that we belong in the
future and of the importance of recovering our often suppressed pasts, aesthetics that coalesce
these visions under a single, diverse umbrella, and also represent growing subgenres of science
fiction. What all CoFuturisms share in common is the offering of a vision beyond the white
supremacist future that permeates our collective Global North visions of the future—whether
those are Campbellian Golden Age science fiction texts that excluded people of color and the
Global South in their future imaginings, or the visions of politicians who lead with hate and
fearmongering, drawing upon legacies of conquest and manifest destiny. CoFuturisms use science fictional thinking to build just, inclusive futures; to critique and bear witness to the injustices of the past and present; and, perhaps most importantly, to offer us all hope of extricating
ourselves from the dire future we face as a species and that we inflict on other species and the
earth, should we not urgently institute change.
As an intellectual framework, CoFuturisms offers us a way to bridge the connection between
ethnic specific and regional specific futurisms. Thus, our goal with this collection is to showcase
the emerging thinking about these diverse futurisms, while also illustrating that the very nature
of CoFuturisms is interconnectedness and overlap. Despite people of color being the global
majority, people of color and ethnic minorities share common histories and legacies of oppression. Colonization and imperialism are at the core of this shared history—when other groups
of people structured by nation, race, religion, etc., aim to take territory and personhood through
the suppression of other peoples and cultures for their own benefit. CoFuturisms narratives
show keen awareness of the cost of colonization and imperialism—the legacies of genocide,
slavery, displacement, and forced assimilation. For so many of us—and by us, we mean people
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DOI: 10.4324/9780429317828-1
Taryne Jade Taylor
of color and peoples in the Global South—the apocalypse has already come, a century or more
ago in the form of colonization, slavery, and genocide. CoFuturisms showcase the way that we,
in the face of the postapocalpyse, engage in science fictional thinking to build a better tomorrow, to heal and rebuild ourselves and our communities, to look towards a more collaborative,
collective way of being in the world. It is in this spirit that we, as the editors, undertook to build
this handbook.
Of the various forms of futurisms represented under the umbrella of CoFuturisms,
Afrofuturism was the first to be so named and theorized by scholars and creatives. First coined
as a term in the 1990s, Afrofuturism in its initial, singular iteration was defined as the way
African American musicians, artists, and writers were drawing on science fiction to assert that
Black people belonged in the future—to contest white supremacist narratives of exclusion and
technological illiteracy and to emphasize belonging. Afrofuturism in its early iteration was never
just about Black people in science fiction, but even in its origin grappled with what it means to
survive apocalypse—in this case, the forced enslavement of African ancestors and the legacies of
that enslavement. The early iteration of Afrofuturisms was shaped by Mark Dery, Samuel R.
Delany, Greg Tate, Tricia Rose, Alondra Nelson, and Kodwo Eshun. As more creatives and
scholars engaged Afrofuturism, what was originally identified as a subgenre, mode, and aesthetic has become a movement. Afrofuturisms has expanded as scholars such as Ytasha L.
Womack (2013), Reynaldo Anderson (2016), Mark Bould (2007, 2010), Lisa Yaszek (2005,
2006), and our own coeditor Isiah Lavender III (2011, 2014, 2019) engage with the movement. Now, we use Afrofuturisms in the plural form to showcase the diversity of Black thought
and experiences represented by the global movement in terms of literature, music, art, cinema,
and fashion.
Nnedi Okorafor has notably added an additional related futurism to the Afrofuturisms
movement—Africanfuturism (2019). Okorafor’s Africanfuturism is based on the premise that
much of Afrofuturisms centers on the African diaspora, particularly the African American diaspora, and not rooted in the continent the way the futurisms of African creators or new arrivals
to the diaspora would be. Okorafor is not the first to attempt a new coinage to replace
Afrofuturism—Afrotopia (1998), Steamfunk (2012), Black Quantum Futurism (2015), and
Speculative Blackness (2016), among others—but she is the most successful in terms of defining a term that satisfies her own sense of what her work represents to the African continent. And
rightly so. We respect this authorial choice and know that others from the African diaspora will
seek to define their own creations as well (for example, Cyberfunk is out there, courtesy of
Atlanta-based Black writer Milton Davis). There is plenty of room for conversation, and we are
thrilled to be part of it. With that said, Okorafor’s example showcases how the movements of
futurisms are always expanding and shifting as more engage with the broader movement of
CoFuturisms.
The second form of CoFuturisms to reach prominence is Indigenous Futurisms, first coined
by a member of our editorial team, Grace L. Dillon, in 2003. Indigenous Futurisms is a movement that encompasses Indigenous peoples across the globe. In the same way early iterations of
Afrofuturism centered on African Americans, Dillon’s early iteration of Indigenous Futurisms
centered on Native Americans in the United States and Canada, who share similar experiences of
colonization and genocide. Dillon and other scholars and creatives have shown how concepts of
Indigenous Futurisms extend far beyond even the Americas, showing threads of connection
between Indigenous peoples all over the world without effacing the diversity of nations and
experiences. Indigenous Futurisms is at its core about decolonizing the future and survivance,
about recovering the suppressed histories and practices of native peoples and honoring Indigenous
science and knowledge. Like Afrofuturisms, it is not only a subgenre, but a movement that
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Introduction to CoFuturisms
extends to ways of being and thinking. Indigenous Futurisms is also about the “presencing” of
Indigenous peoples. In much of science fiction, futures are imagined where Indigenous or Native
American people no longer exist. They are not imagined in the futures of dominant culture. In
North America, particularly Canada and the United States, there is a largely held misconception
that Indigenous peoples no longer exist—that the genocides resulted in annihilation. While it is
true Indigenous peoples were decimated by genocide, Indigenous people survive and thrive. As
is true for many Black people engaging Afrofuturisms, for Indigenous peoples, the apocalypse
has already come via the colonization and genocide.
Indigenous Futurisms are often “narratives of biskaabiiyang”, which is to say Indigenous
Futurisms entail a returning to the self, which involves decolonization, “discovering how personally one is affected by colonization, discarding the emotional and psychological baggage
carried from its impact, and recovering ancestral traditions in order to adapt in our post-Native
apocalypse world” (Dillon 10). Decolonization involves reshaping and/or rejecting colonial
beliefs and concepts. One of the ways Indigenous Futurisms engage in biskabiiyan, which means
to “return to ourselves” in Anishinaabemowin, is by utilizing Indigenous science and demonstrating Indigenous cosmologies that portray worldviews that depart from the narratives and
beliefs of the colonizers. Our own Grace L. Dillon explains:
Indigenous Futurisms typically return to an appreciation of Indigenous cosmologies that
collapse time, space, and other elements that are distinguishable parts of “reality” in
Euro-western Enlightenment thinking. Fundamentally, this is why Indigenous Futurisms
look like science fiction, especially to those who equate “fiction” with “false” or “incredulous” or “unimaginable”. In fact, these storytellings often portray a worldview in which
human beings, animals, plants, spirits, even weather patterns possess agency and function
as active characters in “true” stories. Additionally, because spirituality, cosmology, and
story are all bound together in Indigenous science, CoFuturisms often function to preserve Indigenous scientific wisdom and spirituality in particular.
(3)
Indigenous Futurisms overlap with many of the other CoFuturisms discussed; thus, a work can
simultaneously be Africanfuturist and Indigenous Futurist.
The next form of CoFuturisms is Latinx Futurisms. As with Afrofuturisms and Indigenous
Futurisms, Latinx Futurisms’ early iteration was built from the specific. In 2004, Catherine S.
Ramirez first coined the term Chicanafuturism in homage to Afrofuturism as a way to identify
the unique way she saw Chicana or Mexican American artists engaging with science fiction.
Scholars such as Cathryn Merla-Watson (2017, 2020), B.V. Olguín (2015), and our own coeditor Taryne Jade Taylor (2014, 2020, 2022) have since expanded this concept to include the
Latinx diaspora. What is more, as you will see in this collection, Latinx Futurisms are not limited
to the diaspora and are also being created in Latin America and the Caribbean. Latinx Futurisms
are when creators use science fictional thinking as a method of decolonization that interrogates
the colonial and white supremacist influence on Latinidades. Latinx Futurisms and other
CoFuturisms question the way people of color and peoples from the Global South have been
erased from the futures imagined in mainstream science fiction and Global North politics.
Latinx Futurisms, first and foremost, are about presencing Latinxs.
Latinx Futurisms often meditate on what it means to be Latinx both in the diaspora and in the
context of the racial and ethnic mixing in Latinx America, the very theoretical understanding of
which, in the form of mestizaje, is rooted in the same kind of eugenicist, racist, colonial thinking
that Latinx Futurisms disrupt and move beyond such thinking. For example, twentieth-century
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Taryne Jade Taylor
Mexican philosopher José Vasconcelos’s theory of mestizaje in La raza cósmica/The Cosmic Race
(1925), was rooted in the premise that the European element of racial intermixing was superior
to the Indigenous element. The African ancestry of many Latinxs was completely effaced in
Vasconcelos’s theory. Of course, as we know, many Latinxs have mixed-race ancestry, particularly
European, Indigenous, and African ancestries. As such, Latinx Futurisms themselves share many
crossover connections with Afrofuturisms and Indigenous Futurisms, since Latinidades are intricately connected to indigeneity and Blackness. Taylor’s 2020 essay on Latinx Futurisms asserts
that Latinx Futurist works: (1) bear witness to the erased past and present, particularly colonization and racism; (2) expose and reject Anglo stereotypes about Latinxs; (3) redefine Latinidades
(while rejecting the Anglo role in Latinx identity construction); and (4) unify Latinx cultures
(Taylor 34). In keeping with these four tenets of Latinx Futurisms, we have intentionally included
works from the Caribbean and the Caribbean diaspora in the Latinx Futurisms section in order
to acknowledge how often pervasive anti-Black sentiments (and the inheritance of colonial domination) foreclose the Black Caribbean from discussions of Latinx America and its diaspora.
As with Afrofuturisms, Indigenous Futurisms, and Latinx Futurisms, conversations about
Asian Futurisms began in the diaspora in 2016, with Dawn Chan coining Asia-Futurism and
Lawrence Lek popularizing the term Sinofuturism. Much like Latinx Futurisms, Asian Futurisms
are an emerging movement. Asian Futurisms differ from the other forms of CoFuturisms discussed here in that, rather than contesting narratives of technological illiteracy, Asian Futurisms
contest narratives of techno-Orientialism, pushing against Orientalist visions of Asians in the
future. In her 2016 article that coins the term “Asia-Futurism”, Chan explains that Asians have
been “othered across time”, imagined only in a cliched future and never in the present. Further,
“visions of Asia-futurism continue to be mirrored, magnified, and distorted in the Western world”
(Chan 161). Similarly, Lek emphasized the importance of Sinofuturism in the present, noting
“Sinofuturism has arisen without conscious intention or authorship, it is often mistaken for contemporary China. But it is not. It is a science fiction that already exists” (Lek). As Allison Hsu
explains, Asian Futurisms ask “not how future imaginings of Asia and Asian identity are built from
the West looking East, but instead, how they emerge from the East looking forward” (Hsu).
Given growing engagements with Asian Futurisms in both East Asia and South Asia, we are
seeing more specific regional futurisms emerging. Our own coeditor Bodhisattva Chattopadhyay’s
2016 essay on Kalpavigyan in South Asian science fiction is a critical work towards building
South Asian Futurisms, as is Yudhanjaya Wijeratne’s 2019 essay on Ricepunk. Though neither
Chattopadhyay nor Wijeratne use the term South Asian Futurisms, we see these essays as integral to understanding this emerging conversation. Ryan A. D’Souza’s 2019 article defines yet
another form of CoFuturisms: Desi-futurism. Drawing upon conversations around Afrofuturisms,
D’Souza defines Desi-futurism as “the application of a desi lens to interpret the past, present,
and future” and as “a critical perspective that interrupts whitewashed imaginations of a technologized future with the experiences of the past-present to write desi versions of the past,
present, and future” (D’Souza). Interestingly, in 2022, Desi-futurism and South Asian Futurisms
have been embraced by South Asian diasporic musicians in a way that evokes early configurations of Afrofuturisms. Indian American musical artist Raveena categorizes her latest album as
Desi-futurism, which she defines as “as a genre that South Asian underground artists are developing. It’s about creating this beautiful framework and fabric and having all of us feel like we’re
part of something together” (Balram). Similarly, US-born, Indian-raised, London-based musician Sarathy Korwar characterizes his latest album as both “Indo-Futurism” and South Asian
Futurism” (Clarke). It is our hope that this collection will add to this evolving conversation.
The final forms of CoFuturisms are those that refer to the experiences of the Near and
Middle East, which are represented by the terms Gulf Futurisms and Arabfuturisms or, as Jussi
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Introduction to CoFuturisms
Parikka designates these CoFuturisms, Middle East Futurisms (2018). Filmmaker Sophia
Al-Maria coined the term Gulf Futurism in 2007. Other noted figures shaping Gulf Futurisms
include her frequent collaborators Monira Al Qadiri and Fatima Al Qadiri. In their 2012 conversation with Dazed Fatima Al Qadiri and Sophia Al-Maria outline the themes of Gulf
Futurisms as
the isolation of individuals via technology, wealth and reactionary Islam, the corrosive
elements of consumerism on the soul and industry on the earth, the erasure of history
from our memories and our surroundings and finally, our dizzying collective arrival in a
future no one was ready for.
(Al Qadiri and Al-Maria)
A related form of CoFuturisms is that of Arabfuturisms, first coined by Sulaïman Majali in
2015. As Majali explains, Arabfuturism must be decolonial:
pluralised and in a state-of-becoming, Arabfuturism/s is a question and a movement
forward that interrogates fictional historical narratives; a post-post-colonialist reflection
on what actually is. Perhaps, as the text begins to propose, the ultimate hegemonic power
is the power to define Arabfuturism/s could become an attempt to move towards a decolonial definition of the European-Arab (and beyond?).
(Majali)
In addition to Majali, Palestinian artist and filmmaker Larissa Sansour is a central defining figure of
Arabfuturism. Drawing on Sansour and Majali’s work, Perwana Nazif defines Arabfuturism as “a
new and necessary artistic movement for countering the xenophobia and racism of Europe and
America” to present Arab-centered futures (Nazif). As with many of the other forms of CoFuturisms,
early iterations of Arabfuturisms are tied to the diaspora, however, scholars have already expanded
Arabfuturisms past the diaspora. As with all forms of CoFuturisms, these terms are still in flux, as
more scholars and creators are still engaging the ideas of Gulf Futurisms and Arabfuturisms. Thus,
we are particularly excited by the contributions in this handbook that add to the conversations of
these emerging movements, hoping the definitions of Gulf Futurisms put forth by the contributors
in this handbook will encourage further interest in this emerging movement.
Why CoFuturisms?
Those who follow conversations around the futurisms described in the previous section are
likely aware of the term Alternative Futurisms, which we ourselves used in the call for papers for
this handbook. As the editorial team reviewed abstracts and discussed our vision for this book,
we realized the term “alternative” sets up the works we are discussing here against both mainstream science fiction and futurist/futurology studies. While CoFuturist creations often do
indeed offer alternatives, they are more than alternatives. We made the decision not to define
CoFuturisms based on what they are not, but rather to define them based on what they are and
can be. Thus, we argue the term Alternative Futurisms should be disregarded in favor of
“CoFuturisms”. The word “alternative” suggests that futures imagined by Black, Indigenous,
and people of color are always or only in opposition to hegemonic futurism. We reject this framing of CoFuturisms, as we believe that the term others ethnic Futurisms and Global South
Futurisms when in fact we represent the global majority. That is not to say that considering the
way CoFuturisms respond to and reject the futures imagined by white, European creators is
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