Cover art by Tavares Strachan
From the introduction by Stephanie D. Jones, Deogratius Mshigeni, and Chaz Briscoe:
“We want to love forever, and that love must be funky. To look at what is both inciting and agitating about funk, we look toward Parliament-Funkadelic, who brands us with this demand, this threat, and this call of the mothership. Mothership Connection (1975) opens a biting metaphor through the vocals, composition and lyrics of the group Parliament. Their sound explored how music should be experienced, while their teachings pushes listeners toward the unknown. Their albums use ancient mythology and alien lifeforms light-years away to help us (re)imagine how to (re)conceptualize the here and now. The landing of the Mothership was a prominent feature of Parliament’s show, which always made the crowd erupt. Parliament gave us dreams that one day the Mothership would land in a Black neighborhood near us, and lift us away; carry us home.
Parliament makes it clear that funk is not produced in the US, but they don’t make clear that funk may not be produced in the same space-time. Funk is intergalactic, extraterrestrial. It is the beyond that we can only hear coming. To connect Black geographies to the ruckus of the Mothership is to lay down a bass line for the novice listener. In funk, the baseline is not just a building block or guidepost; it is what can disrupt conventional patterns. We expect that with swing. We understand unconventionality through jazz. Funk is more than just an added breath; it’s more than an added formation—it is purposely disruptive. Black geographies are epistemes of captivity that condition and conform Black life to territories of terror. Within these enclaves, Black life continues to march to a bass line.
What is the Mothership? Is it a tool for liberation or colonization? Is it dependent on scope or depth? What is the Mothership as a calling? What is it as a threat? What we know—what Parliament tells us—is the Mothership gets us to the Beyond. Thus, we must be damn clear what we’re reaching for in the beyond. What Black geographies can teach us is the need to consider… [read in full here]”
“Pirating the Mothership: Toward the Funky Poetics of Exilic Futures on the Other Side of the Sky,” by Michael J. Myers II and “Black Movement Geographies: Roller-Skating, Memory, and Black Women’s Embodied Practices of Fugitivity,” by Ashley L. Smith-Purviance are open access and can be read here.
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Forthcoming 2026-2027 issues include guest edited issues on Onyeka Onwenu, Black Nights, Black Agricultural and Food Studies, pushing the configurations of “Blackness,” and more…
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