Memory in Black-Oriented American Streaming Narratives (working title)

Black-oriented streaming series offer a distinctive approach to the representation of memory, actively constructing and negotiating (counter-)memories of U.S. history. Drawing from Black visual aesthetics and cultural discourses, they interrogate how memory is shaped, mediated, and contested in contemporary screen culture.

This project examines exemplary streaming series through the lenses of (transcultural) memory studies, Black memory studies and Black film and television studies. By tracing how these frameworks emerge on screen, the project uncovers how streaming series critically engage with the past from a Black vantage point and actively shape memory processes. Analyzing these 21st-century streaming series highlights how they function as critical archives – employing aesthetic strategies to reimagine historical storytelling and remembrance, reflect on racial imaginaries, and shape cultural discourses.

Keywords: Memory; Black studies; Black film, Black aesthetics; Transcultural memory