Jean Michel Basquiat (1960-1988) Molasses, 1983Afrofuturism is an appropriation by cultural producers of science fiction imagery, tropes of technology and science, and a "prosthetically enhanced future" to represent the experiences of the African diaspora. From your reading of the Alondra Harris essay "Introduction: Future Texts" and your viewing of John Sayles' Brother from Another Planet, address the following questions:
What does Alondra Nelson identify as a predominant myth of the self in the virtual age? According to Nelson, how and under what conditions have African disaporic authors contributed to the conceptualization of the multiple, fragmented, or non-unified self of the digital age?
What does Nelson find problematic with the use of the term “digital divide”? In what ways does Brother from Another Planet address issues of access to technology by disenfranchised communities?
What does Alondra Nelson identify as a predominant myth of the self in the virtual age? According to Nelson, how and under what conditions have African disaporic authors contributed to the conceptualization of the multiple, fragmented, or non-unified self of the digital age?
What does Nelson find problematic with the use of the term “digital divide”? In what ways does Brother from Another Planet address issues of access to technology by disenfranchised communities?
19 comments:
In the article, Introduction: Future Texts, by Alondra Nelson, she discusses the self in virtual age as “new” and that it looks to it’s past and future for perspective about what identity is and is “one that asks what was and what if” (4). Nelson also discusses African diasporic authors focusing mostly on Ishmael Reed and his novel Mumbo Jumbo. In it Reed is synchronically placing obsolete technologies into the present time, which the protagonist uses in his aid. Nelson later states that, “Reed might be said to use synchronicity to reprioritize technologies” (8). The “digital divide” is discussed and Nelson goes into how the term does not take into account the labor that black people put into modernizing and industry. Also, the technological advances that black people were involved with. In the case of Brother From Another Planet, it has a very strange way of addressing disenfranchised communities access to technology. The people that The Brother encounters are residents of Harlem, a lower class community where crime is more prevalent than technology since this is a poverty-stricken community. The Brother comes along with this ability to fix things from machines to flesh wounds with the touch of his hand. He is able to fix a room full of malfunctioned pinball machines with no tools. He is asked how but since he can’t speak, no one really questions him further. They are only happy with the fact that the machine is fixed. It is almost that, they don’t understand his ability/technology yet they don’t mind because it had made life better which in this community, is more important than understanding.
Alondra Nelson believed that the myth that was brought up by the digital age was that all distinctions between race and gender would be eliminated. “In the future the body wouldn’t bother us any longer,” the text reads. I believe at our present age in time we will still notice these distinctions from the Internet. Looking at the film “Brother from Another Planet” we see that the modern society (at least the society at the time when the film was made) was pretty divided between races. The Caucasian men go into the neighborhood where the majority of the people of African American and they are worried and feel like they are in the wrong part of town. “The Brother” seemed to come from a society that did not seem to care about race from my perspective. I only say this because he had no problem getting along with people who were different from him. However “The Brother” was said to be a slave from his home planet so you could argue that he was a slave because of his race and the people on Earth are in fact ahead of this alien planet when it comes to equality. Getting back to the essay by Nelson, she talks about how we talk about how the internet and other new technologies will help make us the same we have to realize that some cultures will simply not be able to afford these technologies. What good are hybrid vehicles if you cannot afford them? We also need to teach this computer literacy to those in Africa for example who don’t know the first thing about computers before then can truly be successful technologies for eliminating distinctions between races.
-Logan Lovett
In her essay, Nelson argues that a prominent myth of the self in the virtual age is the elimination of a “color line” in the advancements of technology. She explains that although this myth is perpetrated, there still lies “…the assumption that race is a liability in the twenty-first century” (Nelson, pg.124), and that “Blackness gets constructed as always oppositional to technology driven chronicles of progress” (Nelson, pg 124).
Nelson talks about how technology offers a sort of future that allows people to be unbound to their physical body – at the price of abandoning past human experiences. She argues that certain authors contribute to this with examples like Allucquere Stone. Stone argues that “…awareness of the fragmented self is heightened by computer-mediated communication” (Stone, pg. 126). Nelson argues that Stone fails to show the definition in oneself in relationship with their unique experiences and their ties to history.
Nelson finds the “digital divide” term problematic because it “…becomes a code word for the tech inequities that exist between blacks and whites” (Nelson, pg. 124). While I don’t mean to belabor the point or rely too much on quotes from the text, I find the following to be an interesting example of this:
“Representations of race and ethnicity created a cognitive dissonance in tech advertising; dissimilitude was slyly neutralized but never fully erased, for this alterity was necessary to the ideology of the technology being sold” (Nelson, pg. 128).
In the film Brother From Another Planet, the Alien finds himself in Harlem; an exhausted, forgotten piece of society that is plagued by crime and drugs. While the Alien begins fixing machines for the neighborhood, he also begins to “fix” the neighborhood by eliminating the drug lord.
-Joseph Belknap
Alondra Nelson discussed in her writing that through time, and the digital age that race, and other physical traits would not be such an issue, if any issue. African writers in this age have contributed to the modern day era by expressing their thoughts, and feelings through artistic means. By doing this they are able to create a better understanding of the self, and society. Digital divide is discussed in a manner that suggests African American helped create a large load of the technology, and industries in the present time. Their work should not be forgotten, and their past should not be forgotten. Brother from Another Planet relates the topic of technology, and lower class communities by having the main character that cannot speak fix arcade games. Arcade games are a good way for the film to incorporate technology in it because it would not be an uncommon thing for there to be lots of arcade businesses in the area.
Robin Christiansen
Nelson discusses the myth of a future that holds no qualms based upon a “racial difference.” I use quotations because “race,” is a human created method of organization, or separation rather. Still, Nelson declares that “race” is always going to be an issue. I respectfully disagree. Simply put, humanity as a whole has a fascination with discovery and understanding – it’s a natural instinct. I believe that once all humans understand what causes differences in appearance, interaction, and personality – the human race as a whole will come together as one without any barriers of “race” within.
To clarify, I must first acknowledge the existence of physical and physiological differences in each individual. Anthropologists discovered differences in skulls based upon what was first thought of to be race, but turned out to be environmentally produced. This idea of Mongoloid, Caucasoid and Negroid differences turned out to be based upon world location, and when a Mongoloid moved to a Caucasoid location, their skull shape physically changed. The cause still unknown, but it proves that ethnicity is hardly as different as we thought.
That being said, I don’t believe that Brother from Another Planet should be considered a good example of African disporia in science fiction films, simply because there are so many others – granted more current – films that have a positive view of the future. Movies like I. Robot, Independence Day, Men in Black as well as television series, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine for example that show positive African disporia.
As for the term “digital divide,” I agree that credit is not often given where appropriate. There is perhaps a divide views towards technology differences between black and white people, yet this is more prominent in the United States than anywhere else, with perhaps the exception of South Africa where conflict is ever present. Brother from Another Planet plays on this notion of even the most technologically capable blacks are not given the respect that is deserved.
Alondra Nelson’s “Introduction: Future Texts” points out even though many people thought the virtual age would allow a place for people to be free of race, gender and social class discrimination and discernment. Her text is chiefly concerned with race and prejudice. The problem with the freedom of the internet is that people are unable to “cast aside identity.” I think this is a problem because people don’t forget who they are when they use the virtual world, but they are able to control how much information other people know about them, which may control what others think.
Nelson says the African disaporic authors gathered ideas and formed relationships in an online community. The product of their work spans a range of numerous communication tools. This happened during a time when “it was difficult to find discussion of technology and African diasporic communities that went beyond the notion of the digital divide.”
It should denote technological ability, but Nelson’s thinks the term “digital divide” has become a synonymous with racism or racial tension.
“Brother from Another Planet” tells a story of an outside that joins forces with people that accept him. This outside is able to fix technology and therefore finds a place in society. This reminds me of other immigration stories (fact or fiction) where workers need to come to America to survive. Without the aliens skill he would probably starve to death. Being mute makes it really hard for the alien to communicate. Basically the only way he is able to, is through the technology. His skill is his means of survival and communication, much like non-white immigrant workers with little or no English skills, each able to survive with the constant differentness over their heads.
Desten Johnson
myth that new technology is perceived as helping eliminate racism. An example used was the land rover showing that black culture is primitive and makes it seems as if africans are less technologically able, even though there have been many african decent inventors. i think this is a stupid conclusion to come to based on the ad. It is not saying that those of African descent are a failure to technological capabilities, it is simply saying that the tribal way of life is out dated. It is the same as making it Norse vikings or American pilgrims going to the west instead of an African female. I don't think the ad was meant to be racist at all, or having any racist connotation behind it. it is meant simply as saying that our future does not lay in our past.
Anyways, she then counters herself with the idea that this new cyber technology can be used to help black people keep and understand their heritage. She uses the ideas of an AfroFuturism|Forum as a way for people of African decent (or those that are Africans) to stay connected. She also talks about AfroFuturist groups like BNI who create ads such as one talking about giving white people a microchip so they become less racist.
I think "Brother From Another Planet" talks about the issue of access to technology by making the technology that the black community is around broken, and that the only way to fix it is if the "Africans of the future" understand the problems of the diaspora (old technology).
Kyle Arpke
Alondra Nelson in her essay, “Introduction: Future Texts” explains the biggest assumption of man was that technology would eliminate race, age, gender in society. It was believed that the physical body would have no hold on our true identities with technology. Timothy Leary is quoted, “He assumed that “ever-loosening physical constraints” would free us from our cumbersome bodies…” (Nelson 2) The “digital divide”, however has made the opposite quite clear. “The digital divide, a phrase that has been used to describe gaps in technological access that fall along lines of race, gender, region, and ability but has mostly become a code word for the tech inequalities that exist between black and whites.” (Nelson 1) This new phrase is very ironic given the expectations of technology to break down all boundaries. Ron Eglash’s essay “Race, Sex, and Nerds: From Black Geeks to Asian American Hipsters”, points out that stereotypes from their most primitive states excludes certain races from being technologically in tune. He claims that people of African descent have been seen as “closer to nature” and therefore less technology inept and less likely to accept new technologies. “Brother From Another Planet” shows this in that the people in Harlem seem to not have the means to have access to new technologies and therefore know how to fix them. It doesn’t even seem to be an issue that the new guy in town doesn’t talk at all or understand everything about their culture, but he can fix what they can’t so it’s ok.
-Julianna Pierandozzi
In her essay, "Introduction: Future Texts," Alondra Nelson states that the myth of the self in the virtual age was that the racial divide that existed in society in the early 1900's no longer exists now that technology has become more prevalent in its use in society. African disaporic authors have shown that there still exists a divide in society between black and white people.
Nelson finds the term "digital divide" problematic because she believes that it exasperates how there is a divide in cultures in how they can afford and obtain technology and use it. Brother From Another Planet addresses the issues of access to technology by places like Harlem because it shows an "alien" fixing all the old technology to keep it working and keeps them functioning as a society.
Nelson's argument in regards to losing the 'self' in the technology age refers to an eerie reliance on technology as a "catalyst" between the visual delineation of race and the hidden. For example, on the internet, even in her mention of her own created forum, one, that is the user, takes on the persona only of that which he or she desires. Internet, therefore technology, users are instantly sexless and raceless, even if the 'required' inputs ask for such information, there is always a way to sterilize your existence.
Countering Logan's claim that certain cultures will never be able to embrace and utilize technology, I want to bring up two instances that, in my opinion, are readily available: satellite and the $100 laptop. Granted, some cultures lack the funds or the electricity to run them, but, using Africa as an example both in locale and vastness of unprogressed cultures, the ability to bring the world that is the internet is easily a possibility with the help of those with the funding, such as good-will groups.
To "restrain the itinerant cultural virus" is quoted by Nelson, referencing Kali Tal and the divided groups in 'Mumbo Jumbo', one seemingly representing the furthering and passing on of African diasporic culture, the other pushing for the acceptance of "the "Western civilization" mythology of world history". Beyond being a representation of "black cultural prefigurations" I'm unsure under what pretenses it was written.
On Nelson's use of the phrase "digital divide", I'll speak only on my interpretation. Early in the essay she writes about the global village and how this was the accepted new stance when it came to the internet and how it would change all relations with the world. In short, she assesses that the aforementioned 'global village' morphed into a 'digital divide', creating a line between the privileged users and those that are unable to attain the technology.
The only issue in 'Brother From Another Planet' in regards to the accessibility of technology to disenfranchised communities is that their video games and televisions seemed to constantly be on the blink. But there weren't any examples of properly working technology to compare to. Other than the 'outsiders' afraid to come into the predominantly black neighborhood, their seemed to exist a certain sustainability to the neighborhood. In fact, only 'the Brother' outweighed everyone as he had the superior technology, that being the space ship he crash landed into earth with.
In Nelson's article when talking about the self she refers to both Rosanne Stone and W.E.B. DuBois' views. Stone says that "in the 'virtual age' our awareness of the fragmented self is heightened by computer-mediated communication" She says that the decentered self is a reaction of the body or subject to absolute state power. (3). DuBois seems to agree with Stone's argument but says that she focuses only on the new in the "virtual age" instead looking backward and forward "in seeking to provide insights about identity, one that asks what was and what if" (4).
Nelson also talks a great deal about the phrase "digital divide." She defines it as: "gaps in technological access that fall along lines of race, gender, region, and ability but has mostly become a code word for tech inequities that exist between blacks and whites" (1). Basically it means that people of color, specifically African Americans cannot keep up the pace with the high tech society that white people are associated with. As an example to help further this, she used a South African commercial for Land Rover. In the commercial, the Himba woman in traditional dress and bare-breasted. The car is driving away from her into the distance, into the future, while she is left in the past. It creates a sharp contrast and is supposed to depict her primitiveness.
I did not notice this as much in Brother from Another Planet. Yes, he is a slave from another planet but he is more technologically advanced than anyone else in the film. Maybe the film is trying to fight off the stereotype. However, the community in which he is living is very deprived. He ends in Harlem where is is very poor and we see a lot of poverty and drug use. He is even mugged in the hallway of the apartment building in which he staying. He tries to eat fruit and appears to rob the store and is chased by a cop. This film is a way to vent racial anxieties in the form or a science fiction film. The term "digital divide" could be used from this film but referring again to the definition, the main character is not inferior in a technical sense, but in a racial sense, he is depicted that way. He is more valuable and helpful to society than most of the people around him but isn't necessarily appreciated.
The myth that Nelson identifies as a predominant myth of the self in the virtual age is that technology is the future cure for racism. There seems to be the notion that African Americans are not as inventive as others which is false as there have been numerous inventors through our past; perhaps not being as credited as they should have been. Nelson also talks about technology in a way of leaving our physical selves. The more we are tied to technology, the more associated we are with our digital identities, the less connected we are with our physical appearances. I don’t think this will necessarily solve the war on Racism, at least not anytime soon, but I don’t think it is a topic that is very argumentative or debatable. It simply will just happen, as it could be a very gradual process. In “brother from Another Planet”, the movie is associated with this topic as the Alien finds itself in Harlem. As he begins to fix thing there, the people do not necessarily judge him, as he is making the town better; the technology is more important than the physical appearance.
-Ryan Bender
Alondra Nelson identifies a predominant myth of the self in the virtual age to be a contemporary identity that is made up of a fragmented identity. She goes on to explain that these are symptoms of subjugation to a computer mediated community and she compares this to research of multiple personality disorders. Certain methods of subjugation create violence, trauma and other responses which she compares to the symptoms of the fragmented self and the feelings of subjugation to an “absolute power”.
African disaporic authors contributed to the conceptualization of the multiple, fragmented, or non-unified self of the digital age by living and evolving in many “forms of gesture, music, dance, visual culture, epistemology and language, crossing geography and generations by moving from carrier to carrier” and thus threatening ideas of the West.
The term “digital divide” is promblematic to Nelson because she believe that there is an unevenness in access to technology because of economic inequalities.
The Brother in Brother from Another Planet is an escaped slave-alien from another planet. He has landed in a disenfranchised communities even though he may not know. He is not able to communicate with words but he uses his talents to fix things and thus he communicates visually with the others around him. His accomplishments are impressive and makes others around him happier and he is addressed by the name of “Three Toe” rather than by the color of his skin because in this movie there is no skin color for aliens.
-Monica Salazar
Alondra Nelson comments on the sentiments of the technological boom and virtual age as being an age where race and other differences are no longer a problem. However she says that a digital divide has been created and such ideals are false just like they were with the telephone. Nelson speaks about Ishmael Reed's Mumbo Jumbo and the views of a diasporic community. The book plays out the diasporic community, one of unique dance, music and language as challenging the "west" monopoly.
An interesting view point on the digital divide is the reference of the advertisement in Africa of a SUV. This ad, shows a bare breasted female being drove past by a SUV and as such her breasts are pulled towards the car. This ad shows the digital divide in an instant, the car as the technology is rushing past the female that is shown as primitive.
In Brother from Another Planet, the bar shows an area with African-Americans that have a game machine that is broken and shows no sign of being fixed until the Brother arrives. It is also interesting to see the white men when looking at the picture of the Brother, speak about his three toes, as if that is as noticeable as his skin, showing a difference in cultures between the planets. The Brother is a slave on the other planet, however so the same problems might exist.
Nelson sees the “founding fiction of the digital age” to be the blurring or “elimination” humans have to identify either race or gender. Technology will allow, in theory, to be placed, seen, heard, read, even viewed in an ambiguous nature.
The authors of the African diasporic have greatly contributed to conceptualization of these ideas largely out of the ancestral slavery or subjugation that Africans were under for long period of time. These people were living in two separate worlds as it was. The traditional world they grew to know and the world of the slave. So, they innately have the ability in the modern age to look at how the rise of current technology can affect as to how people have many selves. Plus, how the self can be broken/fragmented into many concepts of who we are and personalities. This can be seen out the forum she had started in 1998. Which grew out of “a time when it was difficult to find discussions of technology and African diasporic communities that went beyond the notion of digital divide.” It could be accomplish by poetry or even out of R & B music, to name a couple of examples. All looking at the conditions of the group in relation to the technology and the society it works within. Basically almost, in my interpretation, out of necessity and by the conditioning Africans as slaves and as African Americans.
The author takes issue with the term “digital divide” by its usage and interpretation there of. It is “Janus-faced” by that there are actual real world “gaps” of technology between all different kinds of groups, for a myriad of reasons. It though is largely used in a context to describe only a group of racial identity and comparison of generalizations of one group lacking in ability and another being superior. To boil it down the author may say it best, “the underlying assumption of much of the digital divide rhetoric is that people of color, and African Americans in particular, cannot keep pace with our high tech society” and “the fact that uneven access to technology is a symptom of economic inequalities.”
Without having seen the entire film I am only going to surmise an answer here. Well, the movie “Brother from Another Planet” can be looked at that technology isn't accessible as it is improbable. The folks in the communities aren't wrapped up in it because they are just trying to get by; i.e, Grandma being tired when coming home from work and barely making it up the stairs. How can someone in a community that is disenfranchised have knowledge or access to technology if “the man,” crime, and violent drug use hinder the ability of the community to be concerned with it? It isn't that they do not enjoy or use it on a basic level, but it is only done so in an entertainment/escapism manner. Brother is a representation of the possibilities that they have to be open to it, to harness it, even to be connected to it on a level organically. When the Rastafarian walks Brother around the neighborhood he points out the things that are holding the community down and one then can use that as a launching pad for how technology can be used/interpreted when looking at its impact or usage in the community. I tried here. That is what I have. Everyone else seems to echoing similar things so I wanted to go in a different direction.
In the article by Alondra Nelson, she mentions that the myth of the self was that all distinctions between race and gender would be eliminated. This has slowly begun to show some signs of fact, as humans are now able to create robots and "human-like" computers. Nelson also goes on to argue that new technologies will soon make us all the same, when it comes to culture. Personally, I think that this is somewhat fact. The technology of the telephone is widely overlooked. People can now buy a cellular phone for less than $10. Eventually, the price for this technology will be so low, that the entire world could communicate.
In the movie, "Brother from another Planet" the min character is an alien from a different planet. He lands in New York City, and eventually makes his way to Harlem. There, he becomes a sort of friend, but a very mysterious one at that. Nobody really questions him, especially since he won't talk to anyone. Eventually he begins to fix broken video game machines. This is very similar to when immigrants from other countries arrive in America. They cannot speak fluent english, yet they manage to survive by working for the greater good.
In the new age of digital technology issues such as race would be depleted through the cybernetics and technologies. This film, I believe, was made in the eighties. Things were a bit different then, however this film is still not incredibly outdated. Issues such as race divide still stand. The Brother from the film “brother from another planet” noticeably stood out to us as the viewers. The Brother could not speak English, we were revealed to his obscene limbs that don’t even seem functional as humanoid support. Yet, the characters in this story could not see the difference between this mirror human image, and themselves. The Internet is a medium in which no mirror image exists. There is simply nothing to look at or be seen with. The Internet offers a being with the absence of race.
I find this to be true, but only to a certain extent. People of separate races can communicate in an easier fashion that could not be done with out the way that the internet allows us to full this space void with a solid medium. We are blogging and IMing people with our ideas and thought that otherwise may never have gotten out. To the internet we can never notice that a black person laid down a thought, or that a white person responded we only see pseudonyms such as mine; NIM VIND. As you read the name NIM VIND you would never know that I am an Italian Mexican that has olive skin and brown eyes. You only see a name and my thoughts.
Tony Lopez
Alondra Nelson’s essay “Introduction: Future Text,” makes an assumption that technology will free us all of any prejudices and discriminations. I think the internet age allows use a great deal of knowledge and insight about issues that we might otherwise have had limited access too. Knowledge is power just look at how far our country has grown in just 100 years or less. Of course there’s a still lot of room to grow but there’s no doubt that the internet has done more good than bad. However, there is no way we will be completely rid or prejudices whether it’s about race, gender, or religion. Not everyone has access to technology that we are so lucky to have. With that said they are only limited to their own person experiences and ties to their history. The only way I see the human race coming together and setting aside all their differences would be if there is an Alien invasion like you see in films like, Independence Day.
In the film Brother From Another Planet, is about an Alien coming to Harlem, a place corrupted with drugs and crime. His skill of being able to fix technology (arcade games) is his way of survival and is therefore accepted into this community while being able to set aside obvious differences.
Nelson identifies the myth of social identity not being needed or even recognized in the virtual age. Race will no longer be a factor in how people communicate. Nelson talks about the author Allucquere Rosanne Stone, who says that the conceptualization of the multiple or fragmented self is coming through he way of communication through computers and more advanced technology. She links her research to multiple personality disorders and says that this type of communication is causing that. While I believe we do form personalities that are separate from ourselves through virtual communication, I do not believe that this really gives us more than one personality, but can erase the myth that Nelson talks about in terms of race. It is a lot harder to distinguish race or social status though virtual communication, so in that way, perhaps it is less myth.
The term "digital divide" is used to describe African-Americans separation from the ability to use technology, which is completely wrong and off base. It is just a generalized term that suspects that all blacks cannot use technology. That is the problem that Nelson has with it and she states multiple African-Americans that contributed to the evolution of our countries technology, such as Garrett Morgan and C.J. Walker. Brother From Another Planet addresses these issues through the color of the main character and his affinity for technology. He goes around fixing different forms of technology to give to the disenfranchised community that he landed himself into.
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