Afrofuturism, Autonomy, and Utopia: Robert Munson and Kirsten Dahlquist on Wakanda and Earthseed

Patrick J. D'Silva hosts Worlds Beyond Worlds and continues conversations with former students from his Race, Religion, and Science Fiction course, joined by DU/Iliff doctoral students Kirsten Dahlquist and Robert Munson, whose creative finals engaged Afrofuturism. They discuss why they took the course, emphasizing science fiction fandom, life-giving pedagogy, and research interests in Black imagination. They reflect on the course’s autonomy-based structure—choosing among many materials and open-ended discussions—its initial anxiety due to academic trust issues, and how it became generative. New or challenging takeaways include racial critique of Tolkien via Charles Mills’ “Wretched of Middle Earth,” debates about utopia and who defines it, and recognizing problematic elements of media while still enjoying. Robert describes a poetry chapbook/zine on Wakanda as refuge and praxis; Kirsten describes a guided “God is Change” vision journal inspired by Octavia Butler’s Earthseed and adrienne maree brown’s Emergent Strategy. They compare creative work to research papers and close by describing the course as interrogating futures, absences, and assumptions through curiosity.

For more of Robert's work, you can follow him on Substack: Musings from a Broken Heart

00:00 Welcome and Setup

00:36 Meet Kirsten and Robert

01:28 Why They Took the Class

03:50 Life Giving Coursework

05:27 Course Design and Autonomy

08:34 Trust and Classroom Safety

15:50 New and Challenging Takeaways

20:30 Middle Earth and Racialization

25:36 Critique While Enjoying

27:40 Politics in Pop Culture

29:31 Final Project Options

30:25 Robert’s Wakanda Zine

36:56 Kirsten’s Vision Journal

42:41 Creative vs Paper Labor

47:52 What the Course Was

51:11 Closing and Next Episode

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Worlds Beyond Worlds - Afrofuturism, Autonomy, and Utopia