Hydronoir speculative design

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Fifty years into the twenty first century, the residents of New York City have seen a range of political and social climates that have drastically changed over the course of fifty years. On November 8, 2016, Donald Trump was elected President of the United States of America. His presidency was, by far, one of the most controversial presidencies in American history. Amongst the many marginalized groups that were targeted after his election, there was a strong resurgence from the Black Queer community in response to his presidency.

In the year 2050, black aquatic life called the Hydronoir was discovered in Atlantic Ocean, bordering Western Africa and Central and South America; ‘hydro’ meaning water and ‘noir’ meaning black. Scientists had concluded that these mermaid-like tresses had come into existence around the time of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade and were biological products of unidentifiable deep sea aquatic life and African slaves who were thrown overboard on transport ships and drowned.

Significantly, the Hydronoir defied gender and sexuality both bioloigically and socially.

Some had penises. Some had vaginas, Some had both and some had neither. All of them engaged in romantic affairs with each other that were not based on biological “identity” or social status. In this ethnography, I will evaluate how the Hydronoir shaped black identity post the Trump Era and how they themselves, have functioned in isolation from Whiteness.

In 2051, under high scrutiny and U.S Federal control, the Hydronoir made their way to New York City for experimentation, but the Black Queer Coalition seized the Hydronoirs and sent them out into hiding. From there, the Hydronoir and the black queer community of NYC bonded socially and even engaged in romantic affairs with each other. The nationwide recognition of the

trans community, especially non binary identifying people, signified a drastic change in gender and as a consequence reinvented the notion of what it meant to be ‘Black’. The Hydronoir greatly contributed to this.

Conclusively, we must ask: How did Donald trump shape queer black interactions post-election in New York? How did the discovery of the Hydronoir following his presidency permanently change or rather reassure black queer existence?

It has been theorized that Black queerness never existed until used as a state of rebellion in reaction to White Supremacy and the gender binary, that reinvented black queer identity. With the discovery of the Hydronoir, that identity had strengthened. Historically, blackness has always been masculinized and demonized. The social reaction to Black women, more notably Black trans women, has always served as a prime example of this. The Hydronoir was the epitome of these identities. But, their identities never had to be established for them because they lived in isolation, only knowing of each other. Black queer identity has become what it is because of what it is not.

Black queerness is not whiteness nor white supremacy. It is not the gender binary nor is it the cisgender and heteronormative narrative pushed onto society by Whiteness. It does not assimilate to White Christianity or conform to the methodical slaveholding tactics used to maintain Whiteness as power for over four hundred and thirty years.

Fieldnotes I am staying in the BQC base to do participant observation with those who were left after the Hydronoir infiltration.

Where: Black Queer Coalition based in the South Bronx When: 2050, End of August when Atlantic Ocean bring hurricanes to the Caribbean They travel to parts of South Florida and New Orleans, notable black Mecca’s similar to Harlem, to unify with the hurricane. I go back to the Black Queer Coalition(BQC) base to interview those who were left of the Hydronoir infiltration.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------August 25, 2050 A week after the hydronoir have returned from the Hurricane 10:15am -

Towards the end of August when Atlantic Ocean bring hurricanes to the Caribbean, they travel to parts of South Florida and New Orleans, notable black Mecca’s similar to Harlem, to unify with the hurricane. They battle with being able to travel thirteen thousand miles to the other end of the country. They must to hide from the National Biodefense Strategy, and now the FBI.

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They have come back, newly refreshed from the storms and hurricanes

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This is a dangerous and risky yearly trip they must make because they are in -hiding.

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Yemaya, named after the Yoruban orisha who ruled the sea and its life forms the oldest living of the Hydronoir tells me that they(1st person)” I haven't seen a day where the hurricane didn’t bring distress to dis family or a day where black people got to enjoy the water without fear or drowning, being consumed...we yearn for the very wretched thing we must run away from. The water once brought us rejoice and sweet sappy isolation. Every

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now and then it still does. We need water to live and even when used to kill us, we still managed to live. Regardless, everything is still bittersweet for us”

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Yemaya only speaks dialects of the Yoruban, Hausa, Manding, Fulani languages meshed together.

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In 2052, the leader of the BQC, Leaf, recruited translators from West Africa to decipher the language of the hydronoir.

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Even when living in complete isolation underwater for hundreds of years, the broken english, taught to them by the efforts of the BQC, still soundly eerily similar to the patios my mom shouted at me as a child.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------September 10, 2050

“Chopped cheese wit ketchup!”, the man from behind the counter in the bodega yelled, failing to enunciate the ‘-h’ at the end of with. The main cashier motioned me to come towards the front of the store to get my sandwich. He’s well in his 50’s with tan, caramel skin and light wrinkles across his face and hands. As I walked up, he stared at me with over the brim of his hologlasses. “That’s gonna be ten fifty.” I handed him two five dollar stamps and two quarters. He held the stamps up to the light peering at them with one eyebrow raised to check if they were real. Ever since inflation began five years ago, counterfeit money became increasingly popular and every employee in bodegas, Chinese food restaurants, 99 Cent stores, and supermarkets took extra time to inspect the money given to them by black and brown residents. I yelled, “My shit’s real, asshole!”, as I snatched the wrapped sandwich from his hand and stormed out the front door. Once I stood outside, I began to fitfully cough, forgetting for a split second in that heated encounter with the bodega man, breathing heavily was not an option. The air quality was bad. Actually, no. I

would’ve described the air I was breathing as a kid when my mom and I lived in that one bedroom apartment on 225th as bad. This air, was horrid. Significantly worse. I hurried back to the projects across the street, holding my breath. I open the door to the building and enter the elevator. Instead of pressing a button that would lead me to one of the ten floors, I pressed one, then four, then nine, then two. Immediately, a robot-sounding voice overhead said, “Keep still as I scan your face.” I followed its orders. I could see the reflection of red lights travelling my face on the metal wall of the elevator. As soon as the lights disappeared, a long beeping noise sounded and the robot-sounding voice said “Welcome back, Danielle.”

This is the process that I had to go through for five consecutive years while living in the BQC. They hid their headquarters in the basement of project housing. Leaf, the head and founder of the BQC, told me, “We hide in the projects for two reasons. One, it would not make sense for us to be called the Black Queer Coalition and not live amongst other black people. And two, it is in plain sight. Plus it’s not like any NYC authority cares enough to observe what actually goes on here. They only care to identify our bodies as one group and then target us for crime activity. As long as they can put an inmate number on us, they don’t give a damn if we eating, or getting heat or air conditioning.”

As I the elevator doors opened, I stepped out into a large industrial room. It was filled head to toe with black angel statues, shells and minerals from the ocean, fish tanks, and aged wood.

People who I could not identify as one single gender sat about the room. Some were chatting.

Some, mostly children, were playing games. Some stared longingly at the fish, either wishing that they were fully submerged in the ocean or resonating with the creature confined to the small glass tank. Leaf entered the main living area from a small room in the back greeted me with a soft whisper. They were holding a small sleeping child on their shoulder. As they turned and walked

away, a tail revealed itself and swung from the child’s bum every time Leaf took a step. Leaf is the first person I met when starting my research. He was very sceptical of me at first. Maybe he thought I was a narc or something. But, after a week, he started to warm up to me. Maybe it was because he knew I was queer and black as well. Leaf was rather young and often had many brooding thoughts. Though serious, I could immediately tell that he cared immensely for the Hydronoir and BQC. His hair was styled in slick, neat twisted locs that grazed his lower back. His face was rather soft and yet defined. He was wearing earth tones and lots of linen. He sat down with the child and joined the others.

The child woke up not long after hearing chatter between Leaf and Bay, the child’s parent.

They shimmied their way out of Leaf’s arms and yelled “Uba(father in Hausa)!” as their ran into Bay’s arms. Bay shot them a stern look. “Yes, I am your Uba, but you must call me Mothaaaa.”

She stretched her a sounds, abandoning the ‘-er’ and shifted from enunciating her words. She went from sounding like a character in classic American movie to sounding like the Leaf and the bodega man. “Mom. Momma. Mommy. Das what chu gotta cawl me now. Got it?”. “Yeah,” the child said in an exhausted tone. Bay was one of the first Hydronoir to arrive. She somehow managed to learn English the fastest after the translators has finally dissected their muddled West African Dialect.

They spoke a combination of Fulani, Hausa, Yoruba, Igbo and many other West African languages. But they were also ones of few words. When I had first met Bay, she could did not speak at all aside from a few Hausa words. She, along with the rest of the Hydronoir, mostly communicated through looks, expressions and even telekinesis, possible and mutated trait gained after living in the ocean for centuries. Somehow, the Hydronoir adopted extremely fast to their new setting. Bay could speak English in one week. The rest took about two weeks to learn, ten times as fast as it would take for any human to be fluent.

Physical Attributes -

They have bodies like humans and can reproduce just as we do but their biologies transcend beyond male and female anatomy.

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They all use they/them pronouns when speaking the English language. The gender identity that most resembles theirs is non-binary. Though, the hydronoir and being nonbinary are no syncretic. “Nonbinary” identities exist in response to the already existing binary. In the Hydronoir’s culture, the binary never occurred and thus, they had no reason to have to “identify” themselves. The name ‘nonbinary’ itself indicates a postmodern creation of preexisting Western ideologies surrounding the gender binary.

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Not only do the Hydronoir not identify as cisgender men or women, many simply cannot because their biological anatomy is not strictly male or female or is entirely absent of identifiable male and female sex organs. All Hydronoir can give birth regardless of biological anatomy.

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Religious spiritual practices include giving prayer and worship to the ocean in hopes of keeping its wild, unpredictable nature at bay. When the hurricanes come, those of us who survive must rebuild. It prevents our society from progressing as quickly as we could be.

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Common physical traits of the Hydronoir are medium to dark brown skin with indigo or black colored hair. They are tall and lanky, usually strong swimmers. “The hurricanes have naturally eliminated those of us who weren’t strong of to survive the current.” This has resulted in the strongest genes continuing to be passed on while the weaker ones aren’t carried on. “Although many of us can swim, our biological lives do not depend on it which is why we’re able to live here. We believe it is not our place to take excessive amounts of space in the ocean. If that were the case, we would have the fins and gills necessary to survive in an aquatic habitat.”

They do not have fins but are rumored by the media to resemble mermaids. They instead have can breathe underwater for long periods and are excellent swimmers.

Hydronoir inspired work done by my anthro colleague, Kalila Abdur-Razzaq

Self Portrait, 1990 Michiko Kon Headdresses made of ocean materials and intricate braiding patterns

African threading/ locs with seashells on ends signify a unification with the ocean and its shedding of life

Seashell accessories

Outfit for the Race War included

Headquarter Observations

Disguised as project housing for both safety and convenience. The human BQC members are documented by NYCHA(New York City Housing Authority) to be living in the apartments and are low income or unemployed. They all have apartments in the upstairs of the building, but most of them spend their time here protecting and interacting with the hydronoir. Sage, thirty four, is a disabled member of the BQC and is documented to be permanently disabled by NYCHA. She receives monthly Social Security Benefits. All of the BQC are working class queer black people and still find time and a way to be radical with the hydronoir. The headquarters hold a sentimental value for both groups and it is where they come to convene and even start romantic relationship with each other. Inside, it is filled head to toe with mementos. Seashells, herbs and roots, African-esque textiles. In the main living area there are 3 mismatch couches oriented in a half circle. This is where the hydronoir and BQC members sit to talk and socialize. The walls are painted a mustard yellow. Old postcards with pictures of Nina Simone, Erykah Badu, and smaller prints of artworks from from the Studio Museum in Harlem fill half of the right wall.

There are five small rooms surrounding the main living area. Two rooms shelter eight hydronoir children. Four stay in each of the two rooms. Inside each room there are two water tank crafted to look like aquatic bunk beds. Toys made out of fish bone and seashells lay strewn over the bottom tank. They decorate their tanks with sea moss, kelp and coral to keep it oxygenated and so they can remain reminiscent of the ocean. At night, they sleep while swimming the way that fish do. The smell of sea salt from the tanks is strong. I am in the South Bronx but it smells like a warm beach in the tropics.

BQC Headquarters are disguised as Project Housing Elevators secretly lead to an underground hideout

The underground headquarters stray away from the common futuristic-esque nature of the 2050s and are instead filled with antiques and minimalistic furniture Lots of afrocentric furniture and color palettes Large room designated or homeopathic herbal medicine

The kitchen and greenhouse are right next to each other because the hydronoir mostly eat vegetables and small sea animals. They also practice homeopathic medicine and use materials such as sea salt, corals, jellyfish and crab shells. Overhead the greenhouse, its structure allows for a large sky light. Crystals and prisms hang from above. Everyday when the sun at its brightest peak, rainbows illuminate every corner of the room. Yemaya is the primary cook for their family. They make plant based meals most of the time, but they have taken a special liking to starchy foods like bread, rice, and yams. Since arriving to the South Bronx, Yemaya considers food from diasporic restaurants like West Indian, African, and Latin spots to be delicacies. A recognizable taste.

Something of which she remembers and has never actually consumed until now. May this be collective memory? The Hydronoir have many supernatural powers that have helped them adapt to English. They have a sense of ‘knowing’ without ever actually having experienced any of it.

Gendered and Racial Assimilation March 3, 2051 -

New dangers have arisen around the project housing. There have been suspicions of government agents disguised as residents who have the place under surveil. Leaf and Yemaya have come to an agreement to allow the hydronoir outside. But to be faced with humans would most likely lead to a new era of persecution due to their non gender conforming qualities.

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The Hydronoir resemble humans but are definitely not the same. Adolescent hydronoir don’t have genitals until puberty which is exactly at the age of fifteen. No hydronoir “looks” explicitly male or female or even has either of those genitals. Some have both or none at all and an entirely different reproductive system.

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In order to leave the headquarters, they must temporarily pick a gender and assimilate to its

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binary roles.

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biological anatomy mimics that of some sea creatures in the sense that they are not restricted to a single sex organ or gender.

Romantic Relationships In Hydronoir culture, the act of sex is spiritual and unifying. Sex is an act of compassion and kinship and is openly acknowledged. The members of the BQC and the adult Hydronoir have had romantic encounters with each other. Blue, a Hydronoir, told me about their flirtatious interactions with Nessi, the co leader of the BQC. They clicked as soon as they met each other three months prior. Blue engaged in sexual encounters with Nessi. Blue’s anatomy had no alignment with human male or female bodies, so under English terminology, Blue would be considered nonbinary, but they themselves do not understand their genderlessness to be equal to concept of non-binaryness. Nessi on the other hand self-identified as nonbinary, but had been living under a systemic binary all her life. She still would always be actively in the process of unlearning the binary. Nessi and Blue were technically in a “relationship”, but it had no binding factors of exclusivity and excess dependency with each other. Nessi engaged in other sexual and romantic encounters with people outside of the BQC headquarters. Blue also had sexual encounters with other BQC members, and did so with others when they did chose to go outside.

Being with Blue for a while made it easier for Nessi to understand how they felt about her gender identity. They rarely had to think about performing gender around Blue because blue had no concept of it at all. This in turn, helped to ease the process of Nessi’s unlearning of the gender binary system. Much of the BQC found themselves further understanding their sexual orientations and gender identities through interacting with the hydronoir. Interestingly, about five months into

my research, the BQC started to explicitly label how they identified less and less. Under the shelter of the BQC headquarters, the gender binary temporarily seemed to not exist. There was no need “identify� oneself because the act of identifying as queer also inevitably includes the rejection of cis-hetero norms, the gender binary and white supremacy as a whole.