Synopsis:

Seeds of Sankofa is an Afrofuturist novel that explores the deep connections between racial injustice, climate crisis, food justice, and the destruction of the soil microbiome in the USA. Through the lens of Afrofuturism, the story introduces the Po'To'Ti', descendants of Ghana who possess the unique ability to "redshift." Their supernatural powers are deeply intertwined with the life force of the soil microbiome, maintaining symbiotic relationships with plants, bacteria, and fungi that can "goldshift" into humanoid forms.

In 1986, the Po'To'Ti's sacred community is shattered when a powerful zombie spirit, born from distressed soil, launches a devastating attack, leading to their displacement. The soil they depend on is "zombified," corrupted by the entity's presence. The only clues to their salvation lie with a baby named Sage, rescued just weeks before the bombing of his home, where the ravenous entity had been lurking. This malevolent force, responsible for the Po'To'Ti's original displacement in what is now Ghana, had arrived 300 years earlier, bringing with it zombified spirits of humans driven by the greed of enslavement, extraction, and exploitation.

As the entity continues to ravage the soil microbiome, fueled by the destructive energies of extractive capitalism and environmental racism, the Po'To'Ti' must reunite and reclaim their ancestral knowledge to forge a sustainable future for all.

Through Seeds of Sankofa, I aim to inspire readers to recognize the inseparable connections between racial justice, food justice, soil health, and climate justice. By employing the language of Afrofuturism and Indigenous futurism, the novel centers Black epistemologies, often silenced in mainstream farming, food, and sustainability discourse in the USA.

Within the pages of Seeds of Sankofa, Dr. Breeze Harper explores:

How do grief and loss manifest in multiple worlds, such as the world of the soil microbiome, food, our human bodies, the metaphysical, and the plant worlds?
How can we explore grief and trauma that are intimately connected to ecocide intertwined with racial and reproductive violence?
How can we explore zombification as a consequence of colonialism, extractive capitalism, and monocultural farming practices?
What happens when human beings cannot grow as their biodynamic and authentic selves, but instead, gestate in a system in which monoculturalism is cultivated as [faux] Black liberation?

We invite you to listen to Dr. Harper's April 2022 Keynote Address for Sacramento City College in which she discusses Afrofuturism & read excerpts from Seeds of Sankofa below or navigate here (https://youtu.be/6ynPaH3vPg8) if the YouTube Player does not come up for you:

Synopsis:

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