The Future Is Now ― A New Look at African Diaspora Studies

"The Future is Now: A New Look at African Diaspora Studies is an exciting collection of essays representative of new voices in this ever-expanding field. Writing in English, Spanish, French, and Haitian Creole, the volume's contributors look at the fields of art, literature, film, and music. From the Hispanophone, Francophone, and Anglophone Caribbean to the United States and Europe, the scholars here interrogate themes of memory, power, gender, identity, race, and religion. In so doing, they uncover forgotten episodes of history previously lost to hegemonic tellings of the past. Here, readers will find studies on Haitian documentary, Puerto Rican art, Trinidadian calypso, Colombian poetry, the African-American novel, and African photography and collage.The Future Is Now serves as a celebration of the contributions made by peoples of African descent, providing a glimpse at the breadth of cultural offerings to be found throughout the African Diaspora in the Americas and Europe."

Vanessa K. Valdes, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Spanish and Portuguese at The City College of New York of the City University of New York. A graduate of Yale University and Vanderbilt University, her research is centered on portraits of race, gender, and class in literatures of the Americas. She is also the editor of Let Spirit Speak! Cultural Journeys of the African Diaspora (SUNY Press, 2012).