Princeton University’s Department of African American Studies presents the symposium “Ferguson is the Future — Incubating Alternative Worlds Through Arts, Activism, and Scholarship” on Monday, September 14, 2015 at Chancellor Green Rotunda.
What stories about power, difference, and belonging fuel the social crises we face today? How does visionary fiction offer us models for creating new possible worlds? Can the combined insights and interventions of artists, activists, and scholars plot a different course forward? “Ferguson is the Future” is part of an ongoing collaboration to imagine and create alternative worlds that are more just and representative of humanity.
This symposium brings together a multigenerational panel of speculative fiction writers, activists, filmmakers, academics, and artists to discuss the historical, present-and-future manifestations of a social reality we wish to create and thrive in. As we work to shape change, we will use this space as an incubator and laboratory to grow new visions of the worlds we want to exist. Please join us for a day-long celebration and investigation to explore these timely issues. For the full schedule of events and a list of guest speakers, visit the symposium website at https://blacktothefuture.princeton.edu/.
Sponsored by Octavia E. Butler Legacy Network, Princeton Lewis Center for the Arts, David A. Gardner ’69 Magic Fund, Princeton Council for the Humanities, Princeton Public Library, Princeton Department of English, Princeton Program in Gender and Sexuality Studies, Princeton Department of African American Studies.
“There is nothing new under the sun,
but there are new suns.”
—Octavia E. Butler
Free and open to the public, but registration is required at https://blacktothefuture.princeton.edu
For more information, please contact Prof. Ruha Benjamin at ruha@princeton.edu.