Transformative Futures: Developing Community-Oriented, Critical Literacies Through Speculative Design

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Friday 1:30 pm Four Seasons Ballroom 2-3
  In Roundtable Session: Centering Learner and Community Knowledge in Literacy Learning (Table 1)

Abstract

The integration of critical speculative design in educational settings holds significant potential for reimagining learning environments and fostering transformative justice. This essay chronicles a three-day project that engaged court-impacted Black and Brown youth in the creation of speculative ARTifacts, leveraging culturally sustaining stories and myths from past and present to envision more equitable futures. Through collaboration with a local community organization, the San Diego Comic-Con makerspace, and museum, alongside education researchers, artists, and industry professionals, this project facilitated the design of learning contexts and narrative-based artifacts using emerging technologies. The initiative aimed to explore how such opportunities support identity construction, speculative approaches to critical literacies, and the analysis of power relations.

Authors

• Michael B. Dando, St. Cloud State University

• Nathan Holbert, Teachers College, Columbia University

• Emily Ward Schindler, The Comic-Con Museum