For my loyal readers, this blog should be read as a special treat. We’ve traveled hither and tither across Bucknell, even venturing to the lands of West Africa in my blogs. However, despite us spending so much time together, we’ve never had a chance to formally meet.
My name is Athaliah Elvis ‘26 and I am a dual major in English, with a concentration in Creative Writing and Political Science. I also have a minor in Critical Black Studies. Outside of academics, I work here as a Student Intern with the Griot Institute for the Study of Black Lives and Culture where I support the Griot Institute mission to engage with Africa and the Diaspora, as well as Black lives and cultures through attending weekly meetings and university events to write for the student-run intern blog. Additionally I proposed and self-lead a research project which will be presented to the university in December 2024. My project is part of the African Girlhoods segment where I will explore the relationship between Black, African, and Caribbean girlhood/ womanhood and science futurism. Through researching this project I wanted to find ways to explain where Black girlhood (of the Americas, the Caribbean, and Africa) fit in between the bridge of Afrofuturism and Africanfuturism.
To execute this project, I will create a blog website which will be utilized as an online journal consisting of personal essays, blog posts, podcast episodes, and a Q&A forum. This website will also be open to submissions from other scholars on the exploration of African girls through contemporary media such as: newsletters, journals, film grabs, fashion magazines, poems, and songs. Given the intersectionality of my own identity as an African American raised by Black-Caribbean parents who immigrated from Guyana, as well as my own interests in fashion (anyone who knows Athaliah, knows of her passion for fashion), I wanted to make this website a lookbook of Afrofuturism and Africanfuturism fashion looks in sci-fi and modern day fashion. Alongside that, I will also upload a think-piece in the format of a fashion journal on this topic and why it correlates to the liberation of African and Black girls. Through fashion I will show how Black womanhood exists in the futuristic sense and how this can open up many more discussions prefacing issues about the lack of humanity extended to Black girlhood, the inaccuracy of the depictions of Black girlhood in the media/ literature, and even the important ways African girls express themselves through poetry, drawings, songs, games, fashion, etc.
Truthfully, I’ve been caught up with managing my time between classes, homework, writing these awesome blogs you guys can’t live without, my other jobs, and my superstar status high-profile life, so this project hasn’t seen the fullest of my potential… However, with these last few weeks I plan to take my outline and begin the work with this fashion journal. I’m excited to begin writing this fashion journal because fashion blogging is something I’ve always wanted to do and I’m curious about what it would be like to live in a real life situation of The Devil Wears Prada. I look forward to building my database and presenting my work on Tuesday, December 3rd at The Griot Institute Intern Research Panel. This event will be held at 5:30 – 7:00 pm in the Hildreth-Mirza Great Room! Us interns are excited to share their current research endeavors with you!
And yes…. dinner will be provided.
As for now, my first stop is the Bucknell Griot Blog, next stop Vogue Magazine, mark my words.
–Athaliah Elvis ’26