The New Gods: Merging the Ancient and the Contemporary of Egypt (The Routledge Handbook of CoFuturisms) (2023)

It was a long journey from Omar’s pop-up exhibition at Belgrade’s Chillton Hostel in 2018, endless conversations, bumping into one another in Podgorica and Tirana, anxious writing during first wave of COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, applying, editing, applying, editing, till we finally have this article published in a place we never dreamed of. Thank you.

From the introduction:

Creating alternative narratives based on the past and future is vital to both The New Gods and Arabfuturism, and we shall glimpse into The New Gods’ possible connections to Afrofuturism and Africanfuturism. Overall, our focus is on contextual analysis, linking the artworks with a post–Arab Spring feeling of disappointment, Arabfuturism’s distancing from Eurocentric and neocolonial views of SWANA cultures, but also the Omar Houssien’s personal investment in some of the characters, using his biography as a source and drawing parallels with other Egyptian artists dealing with this ancient heritage.

For more info on the artist, check his IG profile.

About the handbook:

The Routledge Handbook of CoFuturisms delivers a new, inclusive examination of science fiction, from close analyses of single texts to large-scale movements, providing readers with decolonized models of the future, including print, media, race, gender, and social justice. This comprehensive overview of the field explores representations of possible futures arising from non-Western cultures and ethnic histories that disrupt the “imperial gaze”. In four parts, The Routledge Handbook of CoFuturisms considers the look of futures from the margins, foregrounding the issues of Indigenous groups, racial, ethnic, religious, and sexual minorities, and any people whose stakes in the global order of envisioning futures are generally constrained due to the mechanics of our contemporary world. The book extends current discussions in the area, looking at cutting-edge developments in the discipline of science fiction and diverse futurisms as a whole. Offering a dynamic mix of approaches and expansive perspectives, this volume will appeal to academics and researchers seeking to orient their own interventions into broader contexts.

For more info, see the official website.

P.S. Read our interview for Sumac Space in 2021.