Space-Time Collapse II

Book excerpt: Space-Time Collapse is an experimental writing and image series applying Black Quantum Futurism and other Black speculative practices and theory to various space-time collapse phenomenon. Part II considers time, memory, and temporality as experienced by people and communities identifying as Black or African-American in the United States and across the diaspora and explores alternative and cultural, communal, and personal temporal-spatial frameworks. The book includes research, images, interviews, and writing from Community Futurisms: Time & Memory in North Philly, a collaborative art, preservation, and creative research project utilizing themes of oral futures, Black spatial-temporal autonomy, and housing justice to exploring the the impact of redevelopment, gentrification, and displacement causing space-time collapses within a marginalized North Philly community. Contributions from local writers and activists revive historical memory and quantum histories of the area and detail other spatial-temporal interventions and memory preservations in the neighborhood.. Submissions by non-local writers and artists reflect on how the experiences of this community are not unique; the affordable housing crisis, gentrification, and spatial-temporal displacement of Black and poor people are all happening in similarly-situated communities throughout the Afrodiaspora. Their contributions will explore afrofuturistic, Black speculative, and Black quantum tools for addressing these issues, speaking into existence new visions for old problems.