The panel discussion expands on the relation of Ethnofuturism to visual culture and independent cultural production. The participants will discuss and comment on different social contexts that underlie expressions of Afrofuturism and Arabfuturism. They will address the preoccupations of Western science fiction with technology, and those of Ethnofuturism with socio-political change. Moreover, the panel will elaborate on the impact of contemporary imperialism and (neo)colonialism, on the utopia/dystopia divide, and on political imaginations of (post)nationalism and borderlessness.

Chaired by: Dr Nadeem Karkabi (Post-doctoral fellow, Martin Buber Society of Fellows; Anthropology and Cultural Studies lecturer, The Hebrew University, Jerusalem; Editorial Board Member, Tohu Magazine)
Dr Reynaldo Anderson (Harris-Stowe State University, co-editor of Afrofuturism 2.0: The Rise of Astro-Blackness, Lexington Books, 2016)
Muhammad Jabali (Artist, writer, DJ; Bezalel Art Academy)
Thalia Hoffman is a visual artist working in film, video, performance, and public interventions. She holds a BA in Humanities from the University of Bar-Ilan, and an MFA degree from the University of Haifa, where she currently teaches. She is a Ph.D. candidate at the PhD Arts international doctorate programme in the Netherlands. Hoffman has directed a full-length documentary (To each his own, 2005) as well as several short experimental films. In addition, Hoffman works and develops social/political change programs using the agents of film and video in various communities.

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