Are you a fan of science fiction, Marvel movies, and pop culture? Or perhaps you’re interested in African and African American cultures, and the power of storytelling?
If so, we warmly invite you to the interdisciplinary seminar “Africanfuturism: Speculative Futures and Resistance”, taking place on 11 June 2025 at 9:15 AM in the IQ Club at UITM.
The event will focus on Black Panther and Wakanda Forever—films that, while part of the Marvel universe, have sparked important conversations about identity, memory, resistance, and ecology.
Black Panther is more than a superhero movie. It is a groundbreaking response to decades of science fiction that imagined the future almost exclusively through the lens of white societies. Wakanda—a fictional African nation—offers an alternative vision of the future: one rooted in culture, spirituality, and technology that does not cut itself off from tradition.
The seminar is organized by the Department of English Studies and the Interdisciplinary Student Research Club Humanus (Black Studies Section).
During the event, you’ll hear engaging presentations (in English) by students from African countries, exploring topics such as:
👗 African fashion as a form of cultural resistance and identity,
🌿 the intersection of traditional rituals and futuristic technologies,
💎 a critique of natural resource exploitation and environmental destruction by global corporations.
You’ll also discover new perspectives through the lens of Talokan, a fictional underwater civilization inspired by Mayan mythology.
We will reflect on collective mourning for actor Chadwick Boseman, which the film transforms into a force of unity and resistance, and examine matriarchal leadership as an alternative to conventional, hierarchical power structures.
We’ll also explore why cultural representation in film matters—especially for younger generations who shape their worldviews through media.
The event will open with a keynote lecture by Dr. Paula Wieczorek, titled Afrofuturism as Resistance, Memory, and Imagination: Between Utopia and Identity Politics. Each student panel will conclude with a Q&A and audience discussion.
This is an open event—we welcome students, teachers, high school guests, and all who are interested in reimagining the future through the lens of culture, cinema, postcolonial theory, and contemporary narratives from Africa and the diaspora.
Free entry. Join us, be inspired, and discover how pop culture can become a space of resistance, remembrance, and imagination.
