Science Fiction, Speculative Pedagogy, and Critical Hope: Counternarratives for/of the Future

Abstract

AbstractIn times characterized by pervasive future narratives—technological utopianism, dystopian annihilation, neoliberal “progress”—and simultaneous, all-consuming eco-anxiety, how the future is addressed in schools is critically important as we navigate our complex relationship with the “Anthropocene” in education. In this chapter, we problematize restrictive curricular and pedagogical visions of possibility and, as an alternative, position science fiction and speculative storytelling as genres that offer pedagogical frameworks through which educators may center collective, speculative, complex narratives of the future that open up—instead of foreclose upon—possible paths forward and ways of engaging with the present. Grounded in genre studies, futures studies, and science and technology studies, as well as in speculative world building work conducted with secondary students, this chapter accordingly outlines the contours of speculative pedagogy. Speculative pedagogy is framed in this chapter as an approach that embraces and explores collective, open futures; centers interdisciplinarity as a central means through which we can come to envision complex future possibilities with students; prioritizes dismantling singular narratives of possibility and the future; and mobilizes science fictional and speculative storytelling modes to grapple with uncertainty and resist mastery as educators examine critical social, technological, scientific, and existential issues alongside their students.