Ep71. Dr. Walter D. Greason: The Power of New Art Genres

Ep71. The Power of New Art Genres: In the Age of A.I. and Digital Economies, Dr. Walter D. Greason, the Preeminent Historian on Afrofuturism, Expands Our Imagination on What’s Possible

It’s not every day that you have the honor of meeting a national treasure who is creating new art genres and movements to help us expand our imagination and stretch our understanding of what’s possible.

First inspired by Marvel and DC comics in his youth, Dr. Walter D. Greason is the distinguished DeWitt Wallace Professor in the Department of History at Macalester College.

Wondering why there weren’t Black people in the futures presented in classic sci-fi stories, Walter became one of the founders of Afrofuturism, a new lens to re-imagine a tomorrow that’s inclusive for all. He also gave the world the “Wakanda Syllabus” and helped bring the fictional city of Wakanda to life in the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Blank Panther blockbuster films!

Named one of “Today’s Black History Makers” by The Philadelphia Daily News, Walter is an educator, historian, media ecologist, economist, and urbanist all in one who has authored eighteen books on democracy, capitalism, and digital economies in the world today. His latest book and Amazon bestseller, “The Graphic History of Hip-Hop,” is a graphic novel and scholastic experience charting the evolution of the genre Hip-Hop and its myriad impacts on culture and society.

With such a deep wealth of wisdom on the power of art, especially in today’s infinite, digital landscape, combined with his understanding of the transformations shaping our society and culture both at a macro level and down to a personal one, it’s an honor to have Walter on the show. This is a conversation to revisit often as we explore some of the most pressing topics of our time as we transition from the Information Age to the Imagination Age.

Today’s conversation spans a wide array of topics, from the mythological power of comics to Walter’s perspective on the current state of democracy and the world as we transition to digital capitalism, opening up new avenues for economic freedom. Walter also shares what co-powering is, along with a snapshot of the current media landscape in the age of GenAI, the convergence of mediums, and the counter-convergence backlash we’re seeing globally. With expertise in Black Speculative Arts, the racial wealth gap, and patterns of economic globalization, Walter shares new frameworks to help us re-imagine the future as well as our relationships with time and each other.

In a world that can be overwhelming, Walter provides answers and shows what’s possible when we break free of current narratives and give ourselves the time, love, and permission to dream about what’s possible — enjoy listening to the episode and reading the overview here.

Threats to Democracy, Digital Capitalism, and Co-Powering

To kick off the discussion, Helen asks Walter to set the stage regarding the perils facing democracy. Walter makes it clear that the confluence of powerful new technologies like artificial intelligence and the proliferation of anti-democratic ideologies poses a threat to the personal and collective freedoms that societies have come to enjoy through years of struggle.

“Democracy requires defense at this minute, not just within any single country, but around the world.”

Dr. Walter D. Greason

At the same time, capitalism is in transition. Not since the invention of the printing press has the global information ecosystem changed as dramatically as it has since GenAI became available. People can create and consume information, make decisions, and influence others at a speed and scale like never before.

As we navigate these unprecedented tidal shifts, Walter reminds us that powerful forces are influencing this process in real time. Tech companies release new products that change what and how humans consider work, and, Walter predicts that many of the rules of the road for the next stage of digital capitalism will be written over the next three major global election cycles.

Grassroots participation in designing that next stage is both a necessity and an opportunity. According to Walter, a new economic paradigm has to be acceptable to the people actually participating in the market, not just to the people who build it.

Walter likes to focus on the opportunities that this transition can offer. Rather than bucking against the intrusions of modern technology, he embraces the idea of the digital footprint or digital identity. For him, leaning in and optimizing what has rapidly become the most visible version of oneself has unlocked opportunities for business, outreach, and empowerment.

Especially since the COVID-19 Pandemic, Walter says he’s been paying attention to how more people are starting “side hustles” enabled by technology to both supplement and replace traditional full-time jobs. At the individual level, the digital economy empowers people to liberate their finances from the constraints of time and space through “passive income.” In the big picture, Walter says that consumers are waking up to how they can maximize their own interests in the market by also offering their own talents as producers.

Broad access to the tools and resources needed to thrive in the modern economy is the basis of “co-powering,” a term coined by the Twin Cities Innovation Alliance’s (TCIA) Aasim Shabazz and which Walter weaves extensively into his socioeconomic principles. As opposed to “empowering,” which implies a top-down granting of power from a higher authority, Walter says that co-powering is from the bottom up. (Be sure to check out our special series from the TCIA’s Data 4 Public Good 2024 conference).

“When people have the ability to use tools and resources that they have access to on their own terms, there isn’t someone with vastly more money or more education dictating the way someone can improve their lives, and the range of options they have. Co-powering allows us to define the options for ourselves.”

Dr. Walter D. Greason

Yet as individual freedoms and mobility expand in step with the digital markets, Walter identifies an almost equal and opposite push backward to the power structures of the status quo.

Media Literacy and Counter-Convergence

As a kid, Walter loved reading Marvel and DC comics. In college, he started forming ideas about the mythical power of comics to shape people’s ideas of what they could strive for. Then in the early 2000’s, he worked with a group of Marvel writers who were working to reinvent the Black Panther character. With a background in urban planning and design, and strong feelings about the power of comics to inspire, he pushed for a broader reimagining of the iconic Black superhero’s world. Right down to the locations of roads and rivers, Walter says he wanted to create the realest-feeling Wakanda possible.

His efforts culminated in the “Wakanda Syllabus,” a blueprint for the world of Black Panther. In building the syllabus and the world of Wakanda, Walter sought to take advantage of “media convergence,” the phenomenon where content in one genre or medium transforms into an entire human experience. The Harry Potter Universe, for instance, started as a book series that inspired multiple movie franchises, video games, infinite pop culture derivatives, a real-life version of a fictional sport, and even a physical location at Universal Studios.

Media convergence is the result of centuries of expanding access to media consumption and creation. The invention of cable TV and the internet enabled more creators to share their narratives, and facilitated new monetization models which lowered the risk for producing content outside the mainstream. Together, platforms and participants often converge around themes and trends, even if they each do it through their own lens. That’s media convergence in a nutshell.

Looking back, though, Walter says that around the same time that Marvel released the Black Panther movie in 2018, the West was beginning to starting to see backlash to media convergence. Walter traces the rise of what he calls “counter convergence” from 2016’s U.S. Presidential election and the U.K.’s vote to leave the EU, also citing the response to George Floyd’s killing and more recent “anti-woke” right-wing talking points.

“Counter convergence in our media landscape is about narrowing the possibilities of our imaginations.”

Dr. Walter D. Greason

Walter says that counter convergence has deep philosophical implications in the 21st century. As so many fundamental truths we’ve taken for granted about the world are in flux, such as the value of human labor, the people who push counter convergence want to standardize our imaginations of what’s possible as a means of maintaining or regaining power.

With so many conflicting narratives and splintered media environments vying for our attention, Helen asks Walter how we find the common thread of truth in a fractured media landscape, especially after her conversation with Gerfried Stocker on “manufactured realities.” He responds by acknowledging the muddied waters that is the information ecosystem right now, and how the struggle to find reliable information can lead to cynicism. He advocates for media literacy education and for being intentional about curating the media you encounter.

Bigger picture, Walter says that we need a new international consensus like the Geneva Convention on Human Rights. Instead of banning chemical warfare, though, we need to hash out a regime that protects civilians from digital and information abuse.

Afrofuturism and Speculative Design

Describing himself as the oldest living scholar of the topic, Walter says that he couldn’t have existed without the influences that we now refer to as Afrofuturism. He’s credited for three of the five pillars that make up Afrofuturism and is considered one of the founders of the movement.

“Afrofuturism pushes us towards a freer world where … we’re not just the money that we make and the status we achieve, where we’re fed by our relationships with each other.”

Dr. Walter D. Greason

Popularized by writers and artists like Octavia Butler, early Afrofuturist works fixed the simple yet profound issue of Black people being completely absent from the imagined futures of classic and popular sci-fi narratives. Yet, Afrofuturism isn’t just sci-fi that features Black people. It’s a continuous and iterative effort to stretch the dominant cultural perception of what it is to be a Black person.

Today, Afrofuturism has evolved into a framework for imagining freer societies regardless of ethnicity. Afrofuturism shares many of its core tenets with “speculative design,” a framework for designing freer and more socioeconomically mobile societies by eliminating or reducing hierarchy.

Fixing Our Relationships With Time and Each Other

How do we actually overcome the hierarchies we exist in and create the more interconnected world that Afrofuturism imagines?

Walter highlights the power of art, music, and the humanities to bring souls together in ways that speeches and facts cannot, like Mary Anderson’s voice disarming an Alabama Sheriff before he could shoot Martin Luther King, Jr. — the full story in the episode is worth a listen!

The other way he suggests is by rejecting the common saying “Time is money.” Instead, he believes that time is love; that we should think about time management in terms of making time for the things and people we value rather than try to find time for them between everything else.

Invoking Rasheedah Phillips, he says there’s no limit to the amount of healing and goodness we can offer each other if we focus our time on each other rather than commercial and work demands.

“Time is love. It’s what we choose to give to each other.”

Dr. Walter D. Greason

Likewise, he says that time scarcity is a false mindset. We each have the power to shape our own perception of time independently from the institutions that measure and track it for us. Walter explains that we can choose to extend or shorten our experience of time based on how we choose to experience a given moment. Time with loved ones, for example, can make moments feel like lifetimes. With a mindset of time abundance, we can prioritize time for the things that make us feel good, knowing that there is still time for the necessary distractions of life.

By shifting our perception of time to prioritize connection, Walter believes that we can co-power one another through the turbulent socioeconomic landscape to realize the freedom and mobility that we dream about.

To close the interview, Walter leaves the audience with an impossible question: What is the best Wu Tang Clan Song ever produced? Let him know on his website or socials!

Links Mentioned in this Podcast

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Thank you, Dr. Walter, for joining us on this special episode of Creativity Squared.

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