Oct 22, 2020
Ytasha Womack is an award-winning author, filmmaker, independent scholar, and dance therapist. She is a leading expert on Afrofuturism, the imagination, and its applications. Ytasha frequently lectures on the subject across the world. Her book Afrofuturism: The World of Black Sci-Fi and Fantasy Culture is the leading primer on the subject and taught in colleges and universities. Afrofuturism is also a Locus Awards Nonfiction Finalist. Ytasha directed the Afrofuturist dance film A Love Letter to the Ancestors From Chicago and was a screenwriter of the romantic comedy Couples Night.
Ytasha talked to Aleks about her early love of dance, libraries and the movie The Wiz...and about the icon who inspired her scholarship and art. She also talks about how she looks to the past and present to help her understand how the future might be.
To find out more about Ytasha Womack go to decolonizemars.org.
You can find her on Twitter at @ytashawomack
And if you want to know more about Katherine Dunham and the Katherine Dunham Center for Arts and Humanities go to kdcah.org