Ah New Riddim: A Marked (Black) Axiological Shift Across Space and Time

Abstract

Can the axiologies and stories oscillating the margins mark the discourse of Western logic positioned at the center, and how might this marking register in visual representations of the urban? Focusing on the West Indian community of East Flatbush, this thesis argues for the turn from the universal (uni-versus) towards the multiversal (multus-versus) within discursive urban space. First, this thesis demonstrates the potential of black popular culture within representational practices that shift the axes of power from the center to the margins. Secondly, It examines how frameworks of African temporality and the marked conventions of modern cinema and visual culture bring attention to a plurality of black subjectivity(s) across both dominant and marginal spatialities. Finally, this thesis considers the agency of marked axiological shifts within artistic interventions that foster the persistence of new knowledge formations "in relation to" a diversity of global perspectives.

Keywords:MarkedAxiologicalShifts,Africantemporality,concentricstorytelling,subjectivity,place,interactivity, FilmicEncounter