The African Epistemologies of Beyoncé’s ‘Black is King’

The Ancient Egyptians, the Dogon, Dialectical Monism and what it all has to do with Beyoncé.

Anyone who knows me knows that I am physically incapable of functioning when night falls. At 21 years old, I’m like a sad werewolf who instead of turning into some vicious fur ball of energy when it gets dark, turns into a sleepy old man who can’t keep his eyes open for more than 3 seconds. But on the night of the Black Is King release, I arose from my slumber before my seven alarms could even ring. Here I was at 2:09 am wide awake with nothing on my mind except the words “Beyonce is here.”

And she came in with more force than I could have imagined.

Beyoncé Giselle Knowles Carter (affectionately known as Queen Bey or Bad B*tch Bey or No-FWT-DVD-Bey has been a phenom in the musical and cinematic landscape for more than two decades now. Since her mainstream debut as a member of the R&B group Destiny’s Child, her voice has reverberated through the masses with a style, swagger and technical prowess that traverses all cultural boundaries.

Beyoncé has consistently been the standard — music-wise, performance-wise, artistic production wise — for at least the past 15 years. With each new project she outdoes herself and thereby the…