Full Description
This wide-ranging and timely collection of essays from transdisciplinary scholars in humanities, arts and sciences shows how speculative fiction can be used to think through pressing issues in academic research.
The terms 'speculative' and 'speculative fictioning' are growing in popularity in the field of education and interdisciplinary research methods, describing approaches based on asking 'what if' questions that reconsider the quotidian certainties of the past, present, and future.
Ideal for those wishing to incorporate speculative fiction into their teaching and research, an introduction by Sarah E. Truman and a preface by major speculative fiction scholar, Steven Shaviro, provide a theoretical framework for understanding speculation as a creative research method and pedagogy. Each chapter includes reading guides, discussion and writing prompts for use in classrooms and research seminars. These essays show speculation in practice, with contributions from twenty-six international authors on issues as broad as climate justice, disability justice, racial justice, prison abolition, genetics, AI, the future of work, multi-national educational technologies, and gender. In reflective narratives and critical analyses contributors draw on speculative fiction texts to explain their field and introduce their personal research topics, covering works, authors and topics including Star Trek, Gattaca, Octavia Butler, meditation, 12th Century Islamic Science Fiction, H.P. Lovecraft, Philip K. Dick, Orson Scott Card, Borges, Severance and Arrival.
By interweaving diverse global perspectives with accessible writing on issues at the cutting-edge of contemporary scholarship, this work is an indispensable resource for educators, practitioners, students and scholars committed to imagining and building otherwise.
Contents
Foreword, Steven Shaviro (Wayne State University, USA)
Introduction: Speculative Fictioning Across Disciplines, Sarah E. Truman (University of Melbourne, Australia)
Part I: Worlding Future Justices
1. Creating Liveable Worlds: A Reflection on the Legacy of Octavia Butler's Parables, Danielle Purifoy (University of North Carolina, USA)
2. Edge of Tomorrow, Disability, and the Science Fiction of Technological Enhancement, Kelly Fritsch (Carleton University, Canada)
3. Unwriting Amazon, Max Haiven (Lakehead University, Canada)
4. Who Writes the Future? Speculative Fiction as Method for Pursuing Black, Native, and Afro-Indigenous Futures, Kenia D. Hale (Princeton University, USA)
5. Abolition Science Fiction, Phil Crockett Thomas (Stirling University, UK)
Part II: Ethics, Sciences, and Alien Maths
6. Bioethics, Science-Fiction, & the Myth of Post-Racial Futures, Christopher Mayes (Deakin University, Australia)
7. Umberto Eco's Foucault's Pendulum, a 12th Century Islamic Science Fiction Novel, and Wisdom, Sikeena Karmali Ahmed (Warburg Institute, UK)
8. On Maps, Twins, and 3D Printing, Chris Davies (Monash University, Australia)
9. Machine Learning in Genomics: Judgement Day, Nirmal Vadgama (Stanford University, USA)
10. Alien Mathematics, Elizabeth de Freitas (Adelphi University, USA)
Part III: Affect, Media, and Sensory Aesthetics
11. Speculative Meditation: Not So Distant, Chad Shomura (University of Colorado, USA)
12. Performing Speculations: Rehearsing Futures through Speculative F(r)ictions, Rumen Rachev (Utrecht University, the Netherlands)
13. Feeling Climate Futures Now, Michael Richardson (University of New South Wales, Australia)
14. Mythical Species, Michael Salu (Independent Artist, UK)
15. Alien, Script, and the Gift: Some Thoughts on Character Design, Mark-Making, and the Concept of Generosity, Yam Lau (York University, Canada)
Part IV: Uneven Schoolings and Pedagogical Promises
16. Dreaming, Country, Ignorance, Hope?, Aleryk Fricker (Deakin University, Australia)
17. Tending the Tea Dragons, Sid Mohandas (Middlesex University, UK)
18. Science Education and the Problem of Time, Tristan Gleason (Humboldt University, Germany)
19. The Borg, Star Trek's Disability Problem, and the Future of Interdependence in Special Education in England, David Ben Shannon (Sheffield University, UK)
20. Edtech Sci-Fi, Ben Williamson (University of Edinburgh, UK)
Part V: Chronotopias and Remembering Otherwise
21. SF and the Profession of Projection, David T. Fortin (University of Waterloo, Canada)
22. Severance, Storytelling and Digital Sociology, Ash Watson (University of New South Wales, Australia) 23. Truth, Fantasy, and the Historian's Quest, Matthew R. Keynes (University of Melbourne, Australia)
24. Drowned Worlds, New Economies: The Power of Science Fiction, Ali Riza Taskale (Department of Social Sciences, UK)
25. Broken Earths & Building Worlds, Kathryn Yusoff (Queen Mary University London, UK)
Index
