Sarah Naomi Rapatz

This thesis critically reflects upon the construction of linear time and explores how alternative temporalities resist linearity. Examining Afrofuturist positions, shows how reimagining temporality challenges dominant temporal structures. This is done by acknowledging and reclaiming stolen histories, engaging with them in the present, and anticipating a future that is informed by these histories. Therefore, an analysis of two Afrofuturist works is conducted, namely of the novel Kindred (1979) by Octavia Butler and the music video WOMXN: Time Machine (2022) by Gystere. Each of these works employs the concept of time travel. Combining conceptual work with case studies, the thesis engages with the notion of “Black hauntologies” and calls upon the specters of the past and future to explore the possibilities offered by the liminal space of “no longer” and “not yet.”