ABSTRACT

In this chapter, the author provides a dual focus – first, on the relation of Badu to post-soul versus Afrofuturism and, second, on her performance of gender and race. The term post-soul might be employed to describe historical change, which is related to political developments as well as to musical genre. Gender and race performances expose a progressive view of aesthetics and temporality, which meet a more conservative view of gender roles. Both gender and race are thus inscribed into this notion of the digital world without making too much fuss about it. There is an obvious essentialism in Badu's project when it comes to race, and there is also a kind of essentialism when it comes to gender. Badu being shot as a black female, vulnerable and naked, at the same spot as Kennedy, John F. establishes a historical connection between the Civil Rights Movement and their own time.