Afrofuture World-build: Ancestral Dreamweaving
In this Afrofuture World-build, created in partnership with World Dream Day, we explore a future where dreaming is no longer dismissed as passive rest or private fantasy, but reclaimed as a sovereign technology—refined and expanded by afroglobal communities. In this future, dreams are sacred architecture, shaped by ancestral practices, cosmologies, and spiritual technologies that once guided entire civilizations.
What if communities designed systems that honored sleep as sacred? Imagine shared dream archives, ritual sleep sanctuaries, and governance led by visionary insight. Instead of resisting rest to serve extractive economies, dreaming becomes the primary engine of innovation, conflict resolution, and collective healing. Policies are shaped through communal dream sessions; cities are designed from recurring dream symbols; and language evolves to reflect the depth of visionary experience.
This Afrofuture World-build invites us to ask:
What happens when collective Black dreaming is not only protected but forms the foundation of our futures?
What systems must we create to support a world where dreams are portals, not escapes?
How might ancestral structures guide us in designing dream-based infrastructures for governance, creativity, and care?
This is an invitation for people of all backgrounds to co-create the future of dreaming—rooted in the wisdom of the past and guided by the infinite possibilities of the dreamscape.
Afrofuture World-Builds are the creation of futures researcher and curator Ingrid LaFleur, who founded The Afrofuture Strategies Institute. Each world-build is three hours of fun. We engage in mythical storytelling and futures research exercises, culminating in a narrative day-in-the-life scenario. For more about The Afrofuture Strategies Institute and our world-builds, visit afrofuturestrategies.com.
*Tickets are non-refundable but transferable to another person or can be used for an upcoming world-build.