Radical re-envisionings : ancient Egypt, Afrofuturism, and FKA twigs

This report considers the role of ancient Egyptian culture and iconography within the genre/aesthetic known as Afrofuturism. It aims to position Afrofuturism at the juncture between alternative and activist media and genre media, highlighting the similar strains of thought and intentions within each body of academic literature, and argues that because genre media and alternative media have comparable goals, Afrofuturism is itself a radical genre/aesthetic. It supports this assertion by discussing the importance of ancient Egypt within Afrofuturism in relation to ancient Egypt's more general cultural significance to the wider North American and European communities. This report concludes with a case study that investigates the use of ancient Egypt by English R&B artist FKA twigs within her music video for her single, "Two Weeks."