Dr. Erik Steinskog, from the University of Copenhagen, speaks with MSU Professor Julian Chambliss about music, sound, and Afrofuturism. He discusses the differences between Afrofuturism, sonic fiction, imaginary music, and sci-fi music and expresses interest in wanting to explore and figure out when artists expand the perceptions of Afrofuturistic aesthetics. Dr. Steinskog also reflects on his academic training as a musicologist in which he balanced learning about European compositional music in the daytime and learning about jazz music during the evening, as his interest in race, gender, and sexuality in music and sound increased. Moreover, he engages in a discussion of the artists he considers as exemplifying Afrofuturist aesthetics and perspectives in their work, highlighting composer Sun Ra as a significant figure who shows "a long history of sound as a way of establishing community and keeping a history alive in the archive."
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