Speculating Ancestor(ie)s: The Cavernous Memory of White Innocence and Fluid Embodiments of Afrofuturist Memory-Work

dc.contributor.authorPerez, Javier Ernesto
dc.date.accessioned2021-10-12T14:03:07Z
dc.date.available2021-10-12T14:03:07Z
dc.date.issued2020-11-23
dc.date.updated2020-12-24T16:04:38Z
dc.description.abstractEnduring legacies of racial violence signal the need to reconcile with the past. This paper comparatively explores various speculative works that either reinforce a paradigm of White innocence that serves to deny such legacies or center critical dialogue between the past and present. It draws on a range of theoretical works, including Seshadri-Crooks&rsquo;s (2000) Lacanian analysis of race, Taylor&rsquo;s (2003) notion of the body as repertoire for embodied knowledge, Wright&rsquo;s (2015) concept of Black epiphenomenal time, and Hartman&rsquo;s (2008b) method of &lsquo;critical fabulation.&rsquo; Through an analysis of the narrative tropes of caves and mirrors in the <i>Star Wars</i> Skywalker saga (1977&ndash;1983; 2015&ndash;2019), this paper firstly unpacks the bounded individualism that permits protagonists Luke and Rey Skywalker to refute their evil Sith lord ancestry and prevail as heroes. It then turns to the works <i>Black Panther</i> (2018) and <i>Watchmen</i> (2019) to comparatively examine Afrofuturist narrative strategies of collectivity, embodiment, and non-linear temporality that destabilize bounded notions of self and time to reckon with the complexities of the past. It concludes that speculative approaches to ancestral (dis)connections are indicative of epistemological frameworks that can either circumvent or forefront ongoing demands to grapple with the past.en_US
dc.identifierdoi: 10.3390/h9040138
dc.identifier.apacitationPerez, J. E. (2020). Speculating Ancestor(ie)s: The Cavernous Memory of White Innocence and Fluid Embodiments of Afrofuturist Memory-Work. <i>Humanities</i>, 9(4), http://hdl.handle.net/11427/35212en_ZA
dc.identifier.chicagocitationPerez, Javier Ernesto "Speculating Ancestor(ie)s: The Cavernous Memory of White Innocence and Fluid Embodiments of Afrofuturist Memory-Work." <i>Humanities</i> 9, 4. (2020) http://hdl.handle.net/11427/35212en_ZA
dc.identifier.citationPerez, J.E. 2020. Speculating Ancestor(ie)s: The Cavernous Memory of White Innocence and Fluid Embodiments of Afrofuturist Memory-Work. <i>Humanities.</i> 9(4) http://hdl.handle.net/11427/35212en_ZA
dc.identifier.ris TY - Journal Article AU - Perez, Javier Ernesto AB - Enduring legacies of racial violence signal the need to reconcile with the past. This paper comparatively explores various speculative works that either reinforce a paradigm of White innocence that serves to deny such legacies or center critical dialogue between the past and present. It draws on a range of theoretical works, including Seshadri-Crooks&rsquo;s (2000) Lacanian analysis of race, Taylor&rsquo;s (2003) notion of the body as repertoire for embodied knowledge, Wright&rsquo;s (2015) concept of Black epiphenomenal time, and Hartman&rsquo;s (2008b) method of &lsquo;critical fabulation.&rsquo; Through an analysis of the narrative tropes of caves and mirrors in the <i>Star Wars</i> Skywalker saga (1977&ndash;1983; 2015&ndash;2019), this paper firstly unpacks the bounded individualism that permits protagonists Luke and Rey Skywalker to refute their evil Sith lord ancestry and prevail as heroes. It then turns to the works <i>Black Panther</i> (2018) and <i>Watchmen</i> (2019) to comparatively examine Afrofuturist narrative strategies of collectivity, embodiment, and non-linear temporality that destabilize bounded notions of self and time to reckon with the complexities of the past. It concludes that speculative approaches to ancestral (dis)connections are indicative of epistemological frameworks that can either circumvent or forefront ongoing demands to grapple with the past. DA - 2020-11-23 DB - OpenUCT DP - University of Cape Town IS - 4 J1 - Humanities LK - https://open.uct.ac.za PY - 2020 T1 - Speculating Ancestor(ie)s: The Cavernous Memory of White Innocence and Fluid Embodiments of Afrofuturist Memory-Work TI - Speculating Ancestor(ie)s: The Cavernous Memory of White Innocence and Fluid Embodiments of Afrofuturist Memory-Work UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11427/35212 ER - en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttps://doi.org/10.3390/h9040138
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11427/35212
dc.identifier.vancouvercitationPerez JE. Speculating Ancestor(ie)s: The Cavernous Memory of White Innocence and Fluid Embodiments of Afrofuturist Memory-Work. Humanities. 2020;9(4) http://hdl.handle.net/11427/35212.en_ZA
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.publisher.departmentDepartment of Sociologyen_US
dc.publisher.facultyFaculty of Humanitiesen_US
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/en_US
dc.sourceHumanitiesen_US
dc.source.journalissue4en_US
dc.source.journalvolume9en_US
dc.source.urihttps://www.mdpi.com/journal/humanities
dc.titleSpeculating Ancestor(ie)s: The Cavernous Memory of White Innocence and Fluid Embodiments of Afrofuturist Memory-Worken_US
dc.typeJournal Articleen_US
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