full disclosure, i usually have trouble coming up with concise and creative captions. today is no different. i wanted to start with a definition of afro-pessimism but had trouble coming with one that captured my complex feelings about the theory.
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i present this incomplete introduction. this is a starting place and not a definitive entity. just like y’all, i still have so much to learn and i want to be open and transparent about that process. reading afro-pessimism by frank b wilderson iii provided another helpful framework for me to continue to ideate and understand my positionality as a Black person in this anti-Black world. these are other texts that extend, challenge, and reframe our understandings of afro-pessimist theory
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in the context of Black History Month, understanding afro-pessimism provides another frame with which to understand and explore Black history

book list:

the black shoals by tiffany lethabo king

afro-pessimism by frank b. wilderson iii

the future is black by carl a. grant, ashley woodson & michael dumas

becoming human by zakiyyah iman jackson

in the wake by christina sharpe

scenes of subjection by saidiya v. hartman

caste by isabel wilkerson

on being human as praxis by slyvia winter

ontological terror by calvin l. warren

if you are interested in purchasing a book, click on an image and you will be taken to a Black-owned bookstore where you can purchase the book directly!