INDEX

abject, 105, 111–12

Afrofuturism, 119n3 (intro)

aesthetic, 2, 3, 58, 63

in art, 2–3, 7, 59

definitions of, 2–3, 7, 58–60, 63, 68, 69, 81, 86

film, 6–7, 10

important figures in, 58, 64, 79

and liminality, 2–3, 7, 58–62, 64, 68, 78, 83, 97, 100

in literature, 3, 7, 9, 58, 69, 78, 83, 86

in music, 3, 7, 9, 58–60, 64, 65, 69, 76, 78

in music videos, 6–7, 9, 10, 59, 64, 65–69. See also Badu, Erykah; Butler, Octavia E.; Eshun, Kodwo; Monáe, Janelle

agency, 24, 55, 80, 111, 112

and posthuman liminality, 4, 9, 13, 27, 70, 117

alienation, 2, 81, 83, 86, 120n1 (chap. 4)

aliens: abduction by, 83, 86

characteristics of, 4, 93–94, 97

environment of, 82, 93–94, 107

antebellum South: architecture of, 6

history of, 43, 56, 57

as setting, 8, 39, 48, 51, 86, 87, 89

Appiah, Kwame Anthony, 4–5

assemblage, 10, 14, 40, 42, 45, 51–55

authenticity. See blackness: authentic; essentialism

Badu, Erykah, 9, 63

in Afrofuturism, 58, 64

and Afrofuturist liminality, 58–59, 64–66, 78

and humanism, black, 64, 65

as Oblongata, Badoula, 66

and time travel, 64

—works: “Gone Baby, Don’t Be Long,” 64–66

“Next Lifetime,” 64–66

“On & On,” 64

“Window Seat,” 59

Baker, Houston A., 72–73

Basu, Biman, 54, 56

Baucom, Ian, 101–03, 111

Beaulieu, Elizabeth Ann, 6, 13, 120n2 (chap. 1)

becoming-subject, 3, 9, 13, 21–22, 24, 27, 29, 31, 34

definitions of, 14–15, 40–41, 44–45. See also Halberstam, Judith [J. Jack]; Livingston, Ira; Morrison, Toni; Williams, Sherley Anne

Beloved (Morrison), 36, 73, 116, 119n1 (chap. 1), 120nn2–3 (chap. 1)

as neo–slave narrative, 8, 98

and posthuman community, 45, 78

and posthuman liminality, 8, 11, 12, 13–27, 28, 29

as speculative fiction, 97

Benjamin, Jessica, 21

Beyoncé, 10

Lemonade, 6–7, 10

birth: of children, 9, 20, 43, 49, 76, 104–06, 108, 112, 116

rebirth, 6, 20, 24, 79, 109

of self, 105

of stories 72, 73

Black Atlantic, 2, 60, 86

black feminism, 6, 113

#blacklivesmatter (Black Lives Matter), 38–39, 119n2 (intro), 120nn1–2 (chap. 2)

blackness, 8, 83

authentic, 61–62, 63, 65–67, 69

postmodern, 2

semiotics of, 81–85, 91

and whiteness, 9, 46, 61, 81, 82–85, 87, 88–89, 91–93. See also posthuman blackness

black nihilism, 83, 91–92

“Bloodchild” (Butler), 81

blue note, 73

blues, 9, 59–60, 69, 72–78

Bradford, K. Tempest, 93–94

Braidotti, Rosi, 3, 40–41, 45, 48, 106

break, blues, 73–74, 76

bridge figures, 99, 113

Brown, Michael, 38–39, 119n2 (intro), 120n2 (chap. 2)

Butler, Judith, 55

Butler, Octavia E.: in Afrofuturism, 58, 79

legacy of, 79

and Middle Passage, 9, 80–81, 86–87, 89–90, 94, 97

and multiple consciousness, posthuman, 88–91, 93–97

and posthuman liminality, 9, 81–82, 85, 86–91, 97, 98

and slavery, 80, 81, 82, 87–89, 94

and time travel, 80, 81, 86–87, 89–91

—works: “Bloodchild,” 81; 120n3 (chap. 3)

Dawn, 81

Kindred, 8, 81, 86–92, 96, 97, 98

“A Necessary Being,” 79, 82, 93–97

Survivor, 93, 96

Wild Seed, 80, 81, 97

Byerman, Keith, 6, 76

Canavan, Gerry, 93, 96

Caribbean: liminality of, 99–104, 107–08, 110, 113–14

location of, 101

people of, 100–03, 111, 113. See also Glissant, Edouard

Cartwright, Keith, 5–6

childlike, 18, 24, 26

Chodorow, Nancy, 16, 21

on mothering, the reproduction of, 20–21, 22, 24, 25, 32

on relational triangle, 17–18, 20–22, 27–31, 33–34, 35–37, 120n3 (chap. 1)

citizenship, 2, 48

Clinton, George, 58

clothing industry, 1–2

community, posthuman, 9, 26–27, 39, 41–42, 43–48, 54, 57, 69, 76–78

Corregidora (Jones), 8, 9, 59, 63, 69–78

cyborgs, 1, 3–4, 40, 42, 107, 119n1 (intro)

Dash, Julie, 117

Daughters of the Dust, 6, 9, 97, 98–99, 110–16

and posthuman liminality, 98–99, 113, 117

and slavery, 112–14, 116

and the submarine (Glissant), 110, 115–16

and transversality, 110–11, 113

Daughters of the Dust (Dash), 6, 9, 97, 98–99, 110–16

David, Marlo, 8, 62, 64–66

Dawn (Butler), 81

death, 2, 14, 90, 92

and afterlife, 12, 23, 28, 36, 106, 115

of Butler, Octavia E., 79, 93

of mother, 14, 21, 23, 28, 36, 99, 104–06, 108, 109

and violence, 6, 14, 38, 40, 56, 95, 99, 102, 104–06, 109, 119n2 (chap. 2), 120nn1–2 (chap. 2)

Deleuze, Gilles, 3, 14, 40–41, 44, 101

Dery, Mark, 59

Dessa Rose (Williams), 9, 39–40, 43–57, 98, 120nn3–4 (chap. 2)

diaspora: African, 8, 9, 23–24, 40, 111, 116, 119n3 (intro)

digital, 60

Dick, Philip K., Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, 1, 59

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep (Dick), 1, 59

Do Androids Dream of How People Are Sheep? (Franklin), 1, 2, 7, 10

double consciousness, 80, 83–85

Du Bois, W. E. B., 80, 83–85, 92

Elegba, 113

embodiment, 13, 25, 65, 66, 113

and posthuman liminality, 22, 33, 67

Eshun, Kodwo: on Afrofuturism, definitions of, 2, 60, 62, 63, 68, 78, 80–81, 83, 86, 89–90, 92, 93, 97, 119n1 (intro), 120n1 (chap. 4)

on Afrofuturist music, 60, 76, 120n2 (chap. 3)

on technology, 12, 60. See also Afrofuturism

essentialism, 45, 65–66, 93, 96. See also blackness: authentic

Fanon, Frantz, 81, 84–85, 92, 111

feminism, 5, 40, 113

black, 6, 113. See also womanism

film, 6–7, 9, 10, 97, 98–99, 110–17

Franklin, Krista, 2–3, 10

Do Androids Dream of How People Are Sheep?, 1, 2, 7, 10

freedom: creative, 60–61

from influence, 5

from oppression, 42–43, 54–55, 67, 92, 95

semiotic, 84, 91

from slavery, 50, 81, 108–10, 112. See also liberation

Fuss, Diana, 84–85, 91

Garner, Bric, 38–39, 119n2 (intro)

Gilroy, Paul, 2, 12, 60, 80, 83–84, 120n1 (chap. 4)

Glissant, Edouard: on Caribbean liminality, 100–04, 107–08, 111, 113–14

on language, 106–07, 111

on slavery, 100–02

on the submarine, 99, 100–11, 115, 116

on transversality, 101–02, 104–08, 113, 116

“Gone Baby, Don’t Be Long” (Badu), 64–66

Grandt, Jürgen E., 60–62, 65, 73

Grant, Oscar, III, 38, 120n1 (chap. 2)

Guattari, Felix, 3, 14, 40–41, 44, 101

Halberstam, Judith [J. Jack], 12, 22, 40–42, 44, 63

and becoming-subjectivity, 3, 14–15, 22, 29, 33, 41

Hall, Stuart, 5, 53

Haraway, Donna J., 4, 42, 107, 119n1 (intro)

Hayles, N. Katherine, 3, 5

hooks, bell, 2, 119n1 (intro)

Horwitz, Deborah, 13–14, 18

humanism: black, 5–6, 8, 42, 44, 61–62, 71–72, 75

western liberal, 5, 63, 72, 103. See also Badu, Brykah; Jones, Gayl; Weheliye, Alexander G.

Hurricane Katrina, 2, 119n2

hybridity, 37, 61–62, 106

identity: formation of, 4, 5–6, 24, 27, 99, 100, 120n3 (chap. 3)

development of, 12, 14, 28–31, 40–41, 54, 63, 69, 109, 110

as performance, 6, 46, 54, 55–56, 62, 88

and politics, 4

as relational, 13, 17, 18, 20–22, 27–31, 33–37. See also agency

psychoanalysis: and psychosexual development; slavery

intersectionality, 4, 6, 44, 45, 56, 101, 105

Iton, Richard, 62, 73

jazz, 60–62, 65, 69

Jones, Gayl, 75

Corregidora, 8, 9, 59, 63, 69–78

and humanism, black, 71–72, 75

and language, 71, 72, 77–78

and oral tradition, 70–71, 72, 75

and posthuman community, 69, 76–78

and posthuman liminality, 69, 70, 76

and slavery, 59, 69–70, 72, 78

Karavanta, Mina, 34, 37

Katrina, 6, 119n2

Kindred (Butler), 8, 81, 86–92, 96, 97, 98

Kristeva, Julia, 19, 105, 106

Kubitschek, Missy Dehn, 13, 18, 23–24, 75

Lacan, Jacques, 14–15, 104–05, 111–12

Lacey, Lauren J., 40, 88–90, 98

language: nonrepresentational, 19, 98, 106–07, 108–09, 110–11

and psycho-sexual development, 15, 104–06, 110. See also oral tradition

Lemonade (Beyoncé), 6–7, 10

liberation, 44, 54, 75, 81, 95. See also freedom

liminality, 2, 5

Afrofuturist, 2–3, 7, 58–62, 64, 68, 78, 83, 97, 100

Caribbean, 99–104, 107–08, 110, 113–14

posthuman, 3–4, 6–10, 11, 12, 21, 24, 40–41, 44–45, 58–59, 85, 92, 99, 101–03, 107, 117

Livingston, Ira, 12, 22, 40–42, 44, 63

and becoming-subjectivity, 3, 14–15, 22, 29, 33, 41

Loichot, Valérie, 82, 89, 94, 95

Lorde, Audre, 95, 113

Martin, Trayvon, 38, 119n2

Mason, Carol, 63–64

Mayweather, Cindi. See under Monáe, Janelle

McBride, Renisha, 38, 120n1 (chap. 2)

A Mercy (Morrison), 8, 11–12, 27–37

Middle Passage: historical, 2, 13–14, 19–20, 80–81, 82, 90

metaphorical, 9, 80–81, 86–87, 89–90, 94, 97

and modernity, 2, 80–81, 82–83, 86, 120n1 (chap. 4)

semiotics of, 80–81, 82–83, 85, 86, 87, 89–90, 120n1 (chap. 4). See also Butler, Octavia E.; Morrison, Toni

modernism, 2, 4, 73, 80, 83, 85

Monáe, Janelle: and Afrofuturism, 58, 64

and Afrofuturist liminality, 58–60, 64, 66–67, 68, 78

as Mayweather, Cindi, 58, 67

and posthuman liminality, 67

“Q.U.E.E.N.,” 58–59, 66–69

and slavery, 58

and time travel, 58, 64, 66–67, 69. See also Wondaland Arts Society

Montgomery, Maxine L., 33, 35, 36

Moody, Joycelyn K., 43, 45–46, 51

Morgenstern, Naomi, 28, 31, 36, 120n4 (chap. 1)

Morrison, Toni: and becoming-subjectivity, 9, 13, 14, 15, 22, 24, 27, 29, 31, 34

and Middle Passage, 13–14, 19–20, 80, 83, 120n1 (chap. 4)

and mothering, non-biological, 26, 29–30, 31

and mothering, the reproduction of, 20–21, 22, 24, 25, 32

and posthuman community, 26–27

and posthuman liminality, 11–13, 15, 19, 21–24, 27–31, 33–36

and relational triangles, 17–18, 20–22, 27–31, 33–34, 35–37, 120n3 (chap. 1)

and slavery, 13–29, 33–35

—works: Beloved, 8, 11, 12, 13–27, 28, 29, 36, 45, 73, 78, 97, 98, 116, 119n1 (chap. 1), 120nn2–3 (chap. 1)

A Mercy, 8, 11–12, 27–37

mothering: non-biological, 26, 29–30, 31, 44, 48, 121n5 (chap. 5)

the re-production of, 20–21, 22, 24, 25, 32. See also Chodorow, Nancy; Morrison, Toni; Williams, Sherley Anne

motherline, 18, 24, 114

multiple consciousness, posthuman, 81–82, 85, 86, 88–91, 93–97. See also Butler, Octavia E.; posthumanism

Murray, Albert, 73–74

music videos, 6–7, 9, 10, 59, 64, 65–69

“A Necessary Being” (Butler), 79, 82, 93–97

neo–slave narratives, 8, 57, 59, 69, 98–99

“Next Lifetime” (Badu), 64–66

Oblongata, Badoula. See under Badu, Brykah

“On & On” (Badu), 64

ontology, 47, 62, 82, 84, 96, 97, 103, 111

and whiteness, 9, 81, 84, 89

oral tradition, 70–71, 72, 75. See also Jones, Gayl

patriarchy, 40, 43, 52, 54, 57

police brutality, 38, 120nn1–2 (chap. 2)

postcolonialism, 5, 6, 63, 100, 114

posthuman blackness: and Afrofuturism, 58, 59, 65, 81, 92

definitions of, 2, 4, 9, 71, 92, 99

and Glissant, 100, 103

and liminality, 59, 65, 66, 81, 99, 100, 117

posthumanism: and community, 9, 26–27, 39, 41–42, 43–48, 54, 57, 69, 76–78

and liminality, 3–4, 6–10, 11, 12, 21, 24, 40–41, 44–45, 58–59, 85, 92, 99, 101–03, 107, 117

and solidarity, 9, 39–40, 41–54, 56–57, 81, 116. See also Butler, Octavia E.; Dash, Julie; Jones, Gayl; Monáe, Janelle; Morrison, Toni; multiple consciousness, posthuman; Thomas, Sheree Renée; Williams, Sherley Anne

postmodernism, 2, 4, 5, 6, 63

poststructuralism, 4, 5, 6, 63

psychoanalysis: 20–22, 82, 107–08

and psychosexual development, 15, 19–20, 99, 104–06, 110, 120n3 (chap.1), 121n3 (chap. 5). See also becoming-subject; language; relational triangle

Puar, Jasbir K., 4, 40, 119n1 (intro)

“Q.U.E.E.N.” (Monáe), 58–59, 66–69

racialization, 41, 47, 53

racism, 41, 48, 56, 88, 94, 102, 116

rebirth, 6, 20, 24, 79, 109

relational triangle, 17–18, 20–22, 27–31, 33–34, 35–37, 120n3 (chap. 1). See also Chodorow, Nancy; Morrison, Toni

Rody, Caroline, 6, 13, 23, 26, 63, 113, 116

Rule, Sheila, 111, 117

science fiction, 1, 7–9, 69, 79, 81, 83, 86, 94, 97, 119n3 (intro). See also speculative fiction

semiotics, 81–85, 91

slavery: and cultural identity, 8, 62, 94, 100–02

and family, 15, 18–19, 21, 29, 33–34

freedom from, 50, 81, 108–10, 112

and individual identity, 8, 27, 35, 55–56, 89, 109–10, 120n4 (chap. 1), 120n3 (chap. 3)

and modernity, 2, 80, 82, 120n4 (chap. 4)

and trauma, 11, 13, 31, 72, 82. See also Butler, Octavia E.; Dash, Julie; Glissant, Edouard; Jones, Gayl; Middle Passage; Monáe, Janelle; Morrison, Toni; neo–slave narratives; Thomas, Sheree Renée; Williams, Sherley Anne

solidarity, posthuman, 9, 39–40, 41–54, 56–57, 81, 116

speculative fiction, 9, 42, 78, 81, 97, 98–99, 119n3 (intro). See also science fiction

Spillers, Hortense, 5, 71, 120n3 (chap. 3), 121n3 (chap. 5), 121n5 (chap. 5)

Spratt, Sam, 58, 120n1 (chap. 3)

Star Trek, 3, 59

Steinberg, Marc, 87–88, 91

submarine (Glissant), 99, 100–11, 115, 116

in works by Dash, Julie, 110, 115–16

in works by Thomas, Sheree Renée, 104, 106, 108–10

Sun Ra, 58

Superdome, 6, 119n2

Tal, Kalí, 7, 12, 64, 100, 119n1 (intro)

Thomas, Sheree Renée: “How Sukie Cross de Big Wata,” 9, 98, 99, 104–10

and language, nonrepresentational, 98, 106–07, 108–09, 110–11

human liminality, 9, 99, 104, 116

and psychosexual development, 104–06, 110

and slavery, 98, 104–09

and the submarine (Glissant), 104, 106, 108–10

and transversality, 104

time travel, 7–8, 98

in works by Badu, Brykah, 64

in works by Butler, Octavia E., 80, 81, 86–87, 89–91

in works by Monáe, Janelle, 58, 64, 66–67, 69

transversality, 101–02, 104–08, 113, 116. See also Dash, Julie; Glissant, Edouard; Thomas, Sheree Renée

trauma, 6, 8, 69, 77, 79

and slavery, 11, 13, 31, 72, 82

and time, 37, 72, 114

triple consciousness, 81, 84–85, 95

Warren, Calvin L., 80–81, 83, 85

Weheliye, Alexander G., 41–43, 45, 47–48, 51, 52, 53, 54–55, 64, 107

on humanism, black, 5–6, 8, 44, 55, 62. See also assemblage

whiteness: and blackness, 9, 46, 61, 81, 82–85, 87, 88–89, 91–93

and semiotics, 81–85, 91

white supremacy, 38, 46–47, 88, 91–92, 94

and posthuman multiple consciousness, 82, 83–84, 85, 89, 91, 93, 95

and posthuman solidarity, 39–41, 43, 50, 53, 54, 57

Wild Seed (Butler), 80, 81, 97

Williams, Sherley Anne: and becoming-subjectivity, 44

Dessa Rose, 9, 39–40, 43–57, 98, 120nn3–4 (chap. 2)

and mothering, non-biological, 44, 48

and posthuman community, 9, 39, 43–48, 54, 57

and posthuman liminality, 43, 46, 48, 51, 56–57

and posthuman solidarity, 9, 39–40, 43–54, 56–57

and slavery, 39–40, 43–57

“Window Seat” (Badu), 59

Womack, Ytasha L., 7, 60, 64

womanism, 6, 40. See also feminism: black

Wondaland Arts Society, 66–68

Wyatt, Jean, 15, 16, 18, 26, 31–32, 33, 120n4 (chap. 1)

Wynter, Sylvia: on the “human,” 5, 62, 103, 106, 107, 111–12

on Glissant, 94, 99, 101, 103, 104, 107, 111

Yaszek, Lisa, 7, 12, 24, 88