Decolonizing Magic as Research Method, Narrative Practice, and Instructional Design

Session Type: Symposium

Abstract

Historical discourses on magic and magical thinking are often dominated by white, Western, patriarchal society to render women and communities of Color Other. This session is situated in solidarity with scholars who reclaim magic as a feminist and anti-racist project. We take up magic and magical thinking as an act of personal and collective will rooted in the ability to reveal and witness people, places, and phenomena rendered invisible. As education researchers from school-based and extracurricular contexts, we consider the ways that speculative fiction, play, and art-making are imbued with magic, creating opportunities for critical movements toward solidarity and anti-colonialism.

Sub Unit

• SIG-Media, Culture, and Learning

Chair

• Stephanie R. Toliver, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Papers

• Seeing the Cyborg: Using Speculative Fiction as Member Checking and Data Making - Bianca Licata, San Francisco State University

• Youth Artists’ Conjuring "Anime’ated" Possibilities: Playful Fugitive Restorying and a Reimagined Present - Rabani Garg, University of Pennsylvania

• Wizards as Batteries? Youth-Generated Critiques of Colonization in an Online Role-Playing Campaign - Alex Corbitt, Syracuse University

• Black Girl Spells Home: Africanfuturism Magics a Different Existence - Oluwaseun Animashaun, Teachers College, Columbia University

Discussant

• Stephanie R. Toliver, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign