LETTER FROM THE EDITORS DEAR READERS, WHAT IS BLACKNESS? This is the question we started this issue with. To answer the question, our contributors chose different black individuals to write about and explore the ways in which they created their own variations of what it means to be black. One of our contributors even stretched the definition of blackness by profiling Sun Araw, a musician who isn’t black but produces “black” music. Since defining blackness is elusive, our contributors attempted to depict variations of blackness as a way of highlighting its multiplicity. In many ways the Afrofuturism movement inspired this issue. By thinking of black people in the future, Afrofuturism inherently re-imagines blackness. As Eshun writes in Further Considerations: “the manufacture, migration, and mutation of concepts and approaches within the fields of the theoretical and the fictional, the digital and the sonic, the visual and the architectural exemplifies the expanded field of Afrofuturism.” Eshun asserts that evolution and adaptation is essential to blackness. Thus, these modes of blackness we present echo Afrofuturism’s focus on moving black bodies out of the past to both explore and expand their role in the future. We love the format of magazines: it’s bright, colorful, entertaining. It’s easy to pick up and start perusing at any page, for any reason. Choose the facet of blackness that interests you most, and begin there. Or page through for the ads, each of which is also an Afrofuturistic piece in its own right. Or, if you trust us, follow the table of contents and let us show you each story in order, building resonance through their organization. We love the internet: the sounds as well as the sights, the power to move across worlds with a single click, the instantaneous satisfaction. Explore the videos, articles, and readings embedded within this magazine. Click. Search. Discover. We hope that in reading this issue, your definition of blackness begins to shift, expand, and evolve. Please enjoy!
Thanks for reading, The Editors of Multiplicity