Afro-Surrealism is a type of art and writing. In 1974, Amiri Baraka used the term to describe the work of Henry Dumas. In 2009, D. Scot Miller wrote "The Afro-surreal Manifesto," where he stated that Afro-Surrealism sees people who create from their real-life experiences as surrealists. The manifesto explains how Afro-Surrealism is different from Surrealism and Afro-Futurism. It lists ten rules that Afro-Surrealism follows, such as "Afro-Surrealists restore the cult of the past" and "Afro-Surrealism believes there is an invisible world beyond the one we see, and it is our job to discover it."
Afro-Surrealism is found in music, photography, film, visual art, poetry, and fiction. Important people connected to Afro-Surrealism include Ted Joans, Bob Kaufman, Krista Franklin, Aimé Césaire, Suzanne Césaire, Léopold Sédar Senghor, René Ménil, Kool Keith, Terence Nance, Will Alexander, Kara Walker, Samuel R. Delany, Donald Glover, and Romare Bearden.
Influence
D. Scot Miller wrote "The Afro-surreal Manifesto" for The San Francisco Bay Guardian in May 2009. Before this, the term "Afro-surreal Expressionism" was used only by Amiri Baraka to describe the works of Henry Dumas. Later that year, Miller discussed the term with Baraka. They agreed to shorten the name to "Afro-surreal" to allow more exploration of the idea. Afro-surrealism shares some roots with surrealism from the 1920s. Négritude, a movement that came after André Breton wrote the Surrealist Manifesto, is one of these connections. However, as Leopold Senghor explains in Miller’s manifesto, "European Surrealism is based on facts. African Surrealism uses symbols and metaphors."
Afro-surrealism is closely tied to Black history, experiences, and artistic styles, especially as shaped by Western culture. British-Nigerian writer Irenosen Okojie explains the genre: Afro-surrealism combines unusual ideas with themes of Black identity and strength. It allows for deeper exploration of Blackness. If Black identity feels limited by Western systems of oppression, such as structural racism, then the extraordinary offers a way to create new realities and unusual visions that redefine what Blackness can mean as an artistic style.
Afro-surrealism includes ideas from the Harlem Renaissance, Négritude, and the Black Radical Imagination, as described by Robin D. G. Kelley in his book Freedom Dreams: The Black Radical Imagination. It is also connected to Kelley’s anthology Black, Brown, & Beige: Surrealist Writings from Africa and the Diaspora (2009). The influence of Afro-surrealism can be traced to Suzanne Césaire, a writer from Martinique, who discussed the "revolutionary power of surrealism" in the 1940s.
Black Francophone literary productions
During the 1930s and 1940s, the works of Black Francophone Caribbean writers are often described as Afro-Surreal. However, these writers themselves identified as Surrealist.
Suzanne Césaire, a Surrealist thinker and the partner of Aimé Césaire, played a significant role in the development of the Afro-Surreal artistic style. Her focus on "The Marvelous" rather than the focus on sadness or hardship in traditional protest art influenced the Tropiques Surrealist group, especially René Ménil. Ménil wrote in "Introduction to the Marvelous" (1930s):
"The true task of mankind is to bring the marvelous into real life so that life can become more meaningful. Until the imagination of myths can overcome everyday boredom, human life will be filled with empty, dull experiences."
Suzanne Césaire’s statement, "Be in permanent readiness for The Marvelous," became a central idea of the movement. Over time, the word "marvelous" has taken on new meaning in modern Black art and creative works.
In his 1956 essay for Présence Africaine, Haitian novelist Jacques Stephen Alexis wrote: "What, then, is the Marvellous, except the imagery in which a people wraps its experience, reflects its understanding of the world and life, its faith, its hope, its confidence in humanity, in a great justice, and the explanation it finds for forces that oppose progress?" In his writing, Alexis showed a deep understanding of reality similar to traditional Surrealism. His creation of the term "Marvelous Realism" reflects his connection to earlier works of the Négritude/Black Surrealist Movement.
Development
The term "Afro-surreal Expressionism" was created by Amiri Baraka in his 1974 essay about Henry Dumas, a writer linked to the Black Arts Movement. Baraka explains that Dumas wrote about ancient mysteries that also connected to the present day. Comparing Dumas’s work to "Toni Morrison's wild, emotional 'places,' Baraka says both writers use poetic language with beautiful metaphors and clear storytelling. However, Baraka adds that this language does more than look good—it also communicates important messages.
For example, in Dumas’s book Ark of Bones, Baraka describes a style that mixes African myths with familiar cultural elements. Themes like Africa, the southern United States, and Black traditions shape the story’s mood, rhythm, and history. Despite Dumas’s poetic style and deep meaning, Baraka says he was part of a group of African American writers leading the Black Arts Movement in the 1960s. Dumas’s work, which distorts reality in strange ways, shows a powerful truth about change and transition.
Afro-surrealism, as described by D. Scot Miller, focuses on the present, unlike Afro-Futurism, which imagines future possibilities. Miller says Afro-surrealists believe the "Four Horsemen" (symbols of destruction) have already passed. Through Afro-surrealism, artists highlight how the past continues to influence the present.
Terri Francis explains that Afro-surrealism is art that feels real, with textures that show how objects have survived being forgotten and then reemerged from memory. She describes it as "bluesy, kinky-spooky."
Irensonen Okojie notes that Afro-surrealism can explore many aspects of Black life, including joy, skill, and even failure. It gives Black people the freedom to define their own stories and use storytelling as a powerful tool for cultural expression.
In a manifesto about Afro-surrealism, D. Scot Miller contrasts it with Afro-Futurism. He says Afro-Futurism uses science and technology to imagine Black futures, while Afro-surrealism focuses on the present. Miller argues that events like concentration camps and wars have already happened, and the future is now part of the past.
As Afro-surrealism and Afro-Futurism gain attention in art, business, and education, both movements face challenges. Afro-Futurists add African-centered ideas to their work to focus more on the continent of Africa. Afro-surrealists, meanwhile, focus on the present, looking for subtle details in Black art and life in the Americas, Antilles, and other regions.
Literature
Early Afro-Surrealism in literature was mostly shown through the poetry of Léopold Senghor, Aimé Césaire, Bob Kaufman, Ted Joans, and Will Alexander. A new group of writers includes poets like Krista Franklin and many fiction writers such as Nalo Hopkinson, Tananarive Due, Junot Díaz, Edwidge Danticat, Colson Whitehead, and Helen Oyeyemi.
Examples of Afro-surrealist works
Toni Morrison's Beloved: A Novel is an important work for Afro-surrealists. In the story, Morrison imagines the life of a formerly enslaved woman who mourns the death of her baby daughter, named Beloved. Beloved appears suddenly at her mother's home, with no memory of her past, and searches for her mother. The novel tells a story about a woman trying to understand why her daughter has returned and the lasting effects of slavery. Morrison explores how the legacy of slavery continues to affect people today, not just in the past. The book begins with the line "Sixty Million and more," which suggests that it is impossible to count the number of people affected by slavery, and that this number continues to grow into the present. Morrison shows that the past is not forgotten and still influences the present.
In Zong!, M. Nourbese Philip creates a different way of telling the story of the Zong massacre. She uses words from a legal decision about the event to build her poetry. Philip challenges the idea that the past is only something stored in records. Instead, she focuses on the present to understand how to interpret the legal decision and the case. Like Morrison, Philip believes that the past is not truly in the past and that old events can affect the present. Rather than organizing pieces of information, Philip lets the fragments speak for themselves. This does not mean she gives the fragments voices, but she gives them space. The space in the poem allows readers to notice the silence in these stories and understand the missing parts of history and how they affect the present.
Atlanta is an American comedy-drama television series created by Donald Glover. It first aired on September 6, 2016, on FX. The show follows Earnest "Earn" Marks, a college dropout and music manager, and rapper Paper Boi as they navigate a strange, surreal version of the Atlanta rap scene. The series explores themes like racism, whiteness, existentialism, and modern African-American culture through Afro-Surrealism. Other actors in the show include LaKeith Stanfield and Zazie Beetz.
Sorry to Bother You is a 2018 American film that mixes surrealism, urban fantasy, science fiction, and black comedy. Directed by Boots Riley, the film features LaKeith Stanfield, Tessa Thompson, Jermaine Fowler, Omari Hardwick, Terry Crews, Patton Oswalt, David Cross, Danny Glover, Steven Yeun, and Armie Hammer. The story follows a young Black telemarketer who uses a "white accent" to succeed at his job. He becomes involved in a corporate conspiracy and must choose between making money or joining his activist friends to organize labor.
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