Futuring through Form: Multimodal Scholarship and Public Engagement

Session Type: Symposium

Abstract

Academic research has relied on publication practices and venues that represent a small number of people, and often exclude stakeholders who are most affected by policy outcomes. Responding to Pupul Bisht's challenge to "imagine and construct differently" the institutions that perpetuate exclusion (AERA 2026 CFP), this session explores democratizing scholarship. How can academics meaningfully influence contemporary public discourse? How do we transform spaces that have traditionally excluded everyday people and marginalized voices? Rather than accepting conventional academic publishing as the sole avenue for impact, this session showcases alternative multimodal approaches—magazines, podcasts, and speculative writing, bridging scholarly insight and public understanding. Through these platforms, we demonstrate how academic work can become more accessible and responsive to communities, reimagining public intellectual work.

Sub Unit

• SIG-Media, Culture, and Learning

Chair

• Haeny S. Yoon, Teachers College, Columbia University

Papers

• Re/Forming Academic Publication Through Collective Magazine Production - Haeny S. Yoon, Teachers College, Columbia University; Lucius Von Joo, Teachers College, Columbia University; Lalitha Vasudevan, Teachers College, Columbia University

• Podcasts and Public Voice - Joseph Riina-Ferrie, Teachers College, Columbia University; Jacqueline A. Simmons, Teachers College, Columbia University; Sarah M. Gerth van den Berg, Teachers College, Columbia University; Nathan Holbert, Teachers College, Columbia University; OreOluwa Badaki, Teachers College, Columbia University; Azsanee Truss, University of Pennsylvania; Sonali Rajan, National Development and Research Institutes, Inc.

• Imagining Otherwise: Academic Communication as Utopian Practice - Ioana Literat, Teachers College, Columbia University

Session Organizer

• Haeny S. Yoon, Teachers College, Columbia University

Discussant

• Amy Noelle Parks, Michigan State University