Exploring the phenomenon of afrofuturism in film in decolonizing the university curriculum: a case study of a South African University

Abstract

When the #RhodesMustFall movement called for the decolonization of the university curriculum in South Africa in 2015, academics were soon under pressure to begin to explore various ways to go about beginning such a complex process. One possible approach to this would be to explore whether Afrofuturism could practically liberate the mind towards addressing any forms of cognitive injustice that students may experience as a result of a colonized curriculum, and in what ways it might do so. A literature review has found a paucity of empirical research exploring ways in which a film that employs Afrofuturism could be used to advance the decolonization project in teaching and learning practices in South African higher education. This article aims to contribute to this discourse through a case study which attempted to uncover the attitudes and emotions of a group of students who, after viewing the film Black Panther, which employs Afrofuturism, were or were not, able to make sense of and/or re-imagine their identities and relationships with others in the context of Afrofuturism, and to what extent. The article thus reports on a case study at a university of technology (UoT) in South Africa in which the film was used to attempt to advance the idea of Afrofuturism in the university curriculum and to uncover the lived experiences, social realities and ideas of self/identity of particular students from marginalized communities.