Before we begin, Our Terms of Use✨

"The function of art is to do more than tell it like it is –
it’s to imagine what is possible."

– bell hooks, Outlaw Culture: Resisting Representations, 2012

We dreamed up this space and project as an artistic creation of liberation, freedom dreaming, and, as bell hooks said, to imagine what is possible. Through a great level of intentionality and care, we created and curated this project centering YOU, our community. That being said, we know that this project is publicly accessible to the world, beyond who it was originally imagined or intended for.

Because of this, we have a few asks:

• As a guest of this project, we ask that you annotate, explore, read, and interact with a great level of intentionality and care.
  
  
• This project is an Open Educational Resource (OER) and is meant to be shared widely, remixed, and used in classrooms. We do ask you to please make sure to cite us! Manifold has a built in annotation tool that makes it seamless to create and share citations (and tweet what you've learned!)
  
  
• Are you using the resources in your class? Did you remix one of our assignments? We'd love to hear from you! Use our #BlackDiasporicVisions to document and follow our community creations
  
  
• Already have a Manifold account? Create and curate a reading group with readings from this project! Simply click the blue star that says ADD
  
  

  A special thank you...🌻
  

  The digital version of this project was carefully thought up and curated by artist and educator, Wendy Barrales. We want to thank her for the level of care and love that was poured into this. Thank you for manifesting our vision for a project that centers visuals, our audience, and our work.
  
  

  With Gratitude,

  The Authors & Contributors of
  Black Diasporic Visions:(De) Constructing Modes of Power 🌱
  
  

  A Sonic Exploration...
  

  We invite you to listen to Jamila Woods' LEGACY!LEGACY! as part of a multisensory experience to our project. LEGACY!LEGACY! is a sonic ode to Black artists, musicians, and writers, assembling an illustrious creative lineage stretching from Muddy Waters’s southern blues to Sun Ra’s Afrofuturism. So now, click play, sign into your Spotify, and enjoy this experience.
  
  Thanks for being here. We can't wait to see & hear what you dream up from our conjurings.
  
  

  
  

  Desktop Pro Tip:

  As you explore our project, make sure to right click and "open in new tab" so you can listen to Jamila Woods uninterrupted -- the way we intended for you to experience her.
  
  *Read a full review of the album by Sophia Ordaz.

More Sonic Explorations...

Along with Jamila Woods' LEGACY!LEGACY!, we sonically explored the work of JJJJJerome Ellis, who helped us reimagine the possibilities of speech and language --- transgressing beyond impediments. This album was shared by Josh Adler, thank you!

With The Clearing, composer, producer, multi-instrumentalist, and writer JJJJJerome Ellis establishes a new metaphor that frames speech dysfluency—stuttering in particular—as a space for possibility rather than a pathology. First introduced in his 2020 essay “The clearing: Music, dysfluency, Blackness and time” in The Journal of Interdisciplinary Voice Studies, Ellis presents “The Clearing” as a concept that challenges us to reimagine dysfluency in speech and question how speech and articulation impact how we exist in the social realm. Ellis speaks with a block stutter, which manifests as intervals of silence in his speech. He calls these intervals “clearings.”

Album review courtesy of the artist on bandcamp

Want to watch, view, interact, and explore the multimedia resources from this project? Take a look below!