Janelle Monae's Queer Afrofuturism: Defying Every Label

Janelle Monáe is a multi-talented artist who has connected different media platforms to strengthen and enhance new movements in art, theory, and politics. This book explores how Monáe's work reshapes discourses around race, gender, sexuality, and capitalism, offering Afrofuturist, posthumanist, and postcapitalist utopias while remaining grounded in the realities of being a Black woman in a white-dominated industry.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 178 pages
Publication date: 13 May 2022
Publisher: Rutgers University Press

Janelle Monáe is a multifaceted artist who has made an indelible mark on the twenty-first century. This captivating new study delves into how Monáe's work has seamlessly interconnected various media platforms, fostering and amplifying new movements in art, theory, and politics. It examines not only Monáe's groundbreaking albums, such as The ArchAndroid, The Electric Lady, and Dirty Computer, but also her remarkable acting performances in films like Hidden Figures and Antebellum, as well as her contributions to socially conscious projects like I May Destroy You and Us. By examining Monáe as a cultural icon whose work is deeply intersectional, this book maps how she actively reshapes discourses around race, gender, sexuality, and capitalism. Through a comprehensive analysis of Monáe's performances of joy, desire, pain, and hope across a diverse range of media forms, it reveals how she imagines Afrofuturist, posthumanist, and postcapitalist utopias while remaining firmly rooted in the realities of being a Black woman in a predominantly white-dominated industry. This is an exhilarating introduction to an audacious innovator whose work presents us with fresh perspectives on identity, desire, and power.

Weight: 270g
Dimension: 153 x 229 x 18 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781978826687