Murphy Scholar Sable Alysse ’24 recently completed an independent archival research project at the Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center at the University of Chicago Library.
Alysse proposed this project to the Hendrix-Murphy Foundation as a study-travel project that would allow them to investigate how people of the African Diaspora imagine futures of Black liberation through literature, language arts, and science. This research informed the creation of a digital and interactive zine consisting of site-specific, ekphrastic, and flash-fiction pieces that further develops their literary work-in-progress, “The Adventures of Z and Uncle T.” — an extension of their capstone project in English-Creative Writing.
Inspired by the Afrofuturism movement in literature and film, Alysse was specifically interested in the written works of avant-garde artist Sun Ra. Alysse spent their time in the archives combing through over 100 boxes of manuscripts, notebooks, posters, original music, and poetry and discovered a box that included a copy of his poetry and prose collection The Immeasurable Equation.
“For me the connection between literature and mathematics holds a unique relationship that deserves to be researched,” said Alysse. “Especially to discuss the relationships that Black people have with these aspects of life. This research project gave me the opportunity to really dig into this.”
Alysse is currently working to collect evidence and review records for a law firm and plans to continue their education in STEM and art.