Futures Play
In an active year for Afro-Rithms, the game finds partners at Stanford, Harvard, SUNY Buffalo, and the international Science Gallery network
Anthony Weeks, graphic renderings from Afro-Rithms from the Future gameplay at SUNY Buffalo Humanities Institute, May 2021.
In a recent essay in the Guardian, Roman Krznaric poses the question, “Are we good ancestors?” He proposes a withdrawal from what he sees as short-term thinking in politics and business (the “tyranny of the now”) and a focus instead on sharpening necessary foresight to decolonize our future. He names Afro-Rithms from the Future as one of the tools available to help us do this.
Imagining future “Artifacts” capable of breaking down our present societal injustices is what makes the game an opportunity for this kind of ancestral thinking and learning. In the early half of 2021, Fathomers assisted with four gameplays, each showcasing the rich impacts of the game in a variety of scenarios.
Science Gallery Youth Symposium
In January, Fathomers’ own Chinelo Ufondu served as Seer-in-Training and assisted in hosting Afro-Rithms from the Future at Science Gallery's annual Youth Symposium, Boredom Rebellion 2021. The Boredom Rebellion connects young people across the world (ages 18 to 30) to explore how active boredom sparks collaborative creativity, offering a program of workshops, performances, and talks to break their monotonous routines and create together in a virtual space.
Two student facilitators, Jade Fabello and Matthew Luna, also served as the first-ever Afro-Rithms Youth Mentors, a program aimed at training students and educators to facilitate future gameplays. If you are interested in learning more about the Afro-Rithms Youth Mentor program, register for updates at afrorithmsfromthefuture.org/contact.
Stanford University d.school
With game creators Dr. Lonny J. Avi Brooks and Ahmed Best, Fathomers engaged in Stanford d.school’s inaugural “Futures Series” session in February, exploring the neuroplasticity of Black trauma, the possibilities of game- and design-based learning in school curriculums, and ways to navigate the ever-evolving contemporary landscape with a mind toward innovation and in the spirit of a future we want to see.
Players explored topics such as bio-augmentation and ancestral education, coalescing around the idea of a non-vehicular alternative to public transportation, where humans would travel underwater along coastal reefs that eliminate noise and boat pollution — allowing us to re-engage in our daily commutes with the ultimate primordial life force: the ocean!
Next up in A-R’s d.school collab: exploring the archival possibilities of futures learning in a virtual starter kit curriculum.
Harvard University Graduate School of Design
On March 24, working with the Harvard GSD CoDesign Field Lab (CDFL), itself “sistered” with the Destination Design School of Agricultural Estates (DDSAE), the Afro-Rithms team combined the students’ subject of study — Black Belt Study for the Green New Deal — with the tools to imagine and create a foundation for more equitable futures.
Players (a combination of GSD youth elders and students from elementary schools located within the Black Belt) were split into five groups to play the game with experimental card subjects like “youth eldership,” which would prepare the younger generation to become good ancestors, and “community-based care.”
After the winning Artifact — an ancestral right of return dial, imagined to shift land back to its original owners — had been voted on and selected, Ahmed Best concluded the game with a quote from James Baldwin: “If I’m in despair, you’re in danger.”
“These ideas we created today can be brought to our universe,” added Best. “You all can define what your future is and this game can help bring those ideas into fruition!”
SUNY Buffalo Humanities Institute
Our latest gameplay this spring, with the University of Buffalo’s Humanities Institute, featured a great panel of players, including two longtime Afro-Rithms collaborators: public listener/graphic recorder Anthony Weeks and artist (and SUNY alum) Stacey Robinson!
Thanks to their amazing talents, coupled with the keen insights of Seer Ahmed Best, players were able to see their gameplay Artifacts come to life immediately through live renderings made by Weeks and Robinson — such as a youth-designed edible park that would spur ancestral connection, rendered by Robinson (image below). The images will be added to a growing repository of Artifact renderings, eventually to be published as a complete Afro-Rithms library online.
Anthony Weeks, graphic renderings from Afro-Rithms from the Future gameplay at SUNY Buffalo Humanities Institute, May 2021.
Stacey Robinson, graphic rendering of a youth-designed edible park, 2021.