Janelle Monáe’s Afrofuturism

• Thursday, September 18
• 4:00 PM
• Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library Mezzanine (Audubon Side)
• 121 Wall Street
• MAP
• FREE & OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

Dive into the world of Afrofuturism through the lens of groundbreaking artist Janelle Monáe. This engaging conversation will feature 2025 Windham-Campbell Prize recipient Matilda Feyiṣayọ Ibini, whose work often explores themes of identity, technology, and liberation. The discussion will be moderated by Tavia Nyong’o, Professor of Theater and Performance Studies at Yale University, and promises to be an insightful exploration of Monáe’s visionary artistry and its significant contributions to Afrofuturist thought.

Tavia Nyong’o is William Lampson Professor of American Studies; Black Studies; Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies; and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Yale University. A scholar, curator, and writer, his work explores Black queer performance, speculative aesthetics, and the politics of memory. He is the author of The Amalgamation Waltz (2009), Afro-Fabulations (2018), and Black Apocalypse: Afrofuturism at the End of the World (2025). A 2024 Guggenheim Fellow, Nyong’o curates public programs at the Park Avenue Armory and co-edits NYU Press’s Sexual Cultures series. His current projects examine the performative turn in museums; racial and sexual dissidence in art; and the cultural history of postwar Downtown New York.