Video recording featuring guest panelists, Bridget R. Cooks, Ph.D., Omari Souza, and Wesley Taylor, this fourth installment of the 2044 series frames Afrofuturism and futurist thinking as a means for exploring the practices of design and museum curation as well as implications for art/design pedagogy. The panelists explore and discuss how hegemony is perpetuated, sharing the ways in which they decolonize within their curricula and pedagogy, as well as practice anti-racism in their work to reimagine risk or resist classification. While design institutions perpetuate neoliberalist ideals and language and teach under the paradigm of design for consumption, art/design education has the capacity to make a great impact by embracing the power of art and design to imagine alternative futures. The speakers also discuss important issues of cultural ethics, including copyright and appropriation, protections, and speaking up for community.

Video recording featuring guest panelists, Stephanie A. Johnson-Cunningham, and Kelli Morgan, Ph.D., this third installment of the 2044 series frames Afrofuturism and futurist thinking in museum practice to examine the roles museums play in maintaining and recreating anti-blackness and white supremacy. Panelists discuss how museum educators and curators can practice anti-racist pedagogy and thinking. Racist and colonial practices of museums need greater racial equity and recognition. Through the use of visual imagery, Afrofuturism as a framework may be a viable strategy for community building, imagination, and expression. Recognizing that museums are rooted in white colonial narratives that have been and continue to be oppressive to Black and people of color, museums can amplify Black experiences and narratives while pointing out the need for systemic change in the sector. From the periphery of colonial violence and commodification to the centrality of visibility and recognition, museum education can provide opportunities to “analyze how racism shapes how we view, discuss, create, and engage multiple audiences within the museums.”