Imperfect ecofuturisms: Demonopolized imaginaries in the borderlands of the future

This article uses the film Black Panther: Wakanda Forever as a springboard for examining and envisioning decolonial possibilities for the future. Rather than locating salvation or futurity in the myth of vibranium’s limitless extraction, this article turns towards the everyday, inventive agency found in African/Afrofuturist and Chicanx/Latin American artistic practices. Drawing from personal stories and experiences, it explores how the film’s spectacle prompted a reckoning with both the limitations and possibilities of corporate futurism. The article proposes the concept of ‘imperfect ecomedia’ – media-making that values immediacy, care and non-extractive resourcefulness over spectacle. Through analyses of Latinx Futurism, Afrofuturism and their intersections in performance art, cyberarte, the film Neptune Frost and African trash art, this article argues for ecofuturisms grounded in care and community. These practices, rooted in histories of dispossession and cultural hybridity, demonstrate how alternative, low-carbon and decolonial futures can be envisioned and enacted.