Cli-fi in the Classroom: Imagining Education Futures after the Anthropocene

• In Event: Pedagogies and the Art(s) of Protest: Mobilizing for Ecological Justice

Proposal

Departing from the ideal of objectivity that has characterized much research in the social sciences, this presentation draws inspiration from the various genres of science fiction to explore alternate narratives and imaginaries, while rearticulating the boundaries between what is ‘fictive’ and ‘real’ in more expansive ways. Across disciplines, this ‘speculative turn’ can be understood as thought experiments or laboratories of virtual futures (Brin 2016), which can serve as an effective resource for both thinking about the future and rethinking current social and political arrangements. We propose that scholars in the field of comparative and international education can similarly reimagine society and schooling through the lens of speculative and science fiction narratives.

In this presentation, we explore how education research and practice takes those challenges seriously, de-centering humans and including other ways of knowing in graduate education. We experimented with climate fiction (cli-fi) as part of the curriculum in a globally-oriented graduate level class on Education in the Anthropocene. The course introduces students to education dilemmas in a time of climate crisis, examines genealogies of the concept of Anthropocene and explores what kind of shifts in perspectives are necessary to reframe understandings of education research, policy, and practice in this context.

This presentation addresses the role of cli-fi in supporting critique and re-envisioning of education through analysis of the coursework from three iterations of this class, namely a book review assignment that required students to explore how literature offers space for thought experiments on education and schooling, along with consideration of the scientific and ethical dilemmas of the Anthropocene. Incorporating cli-fi into the curriculum for this class was an intentional strategy to disrupt the typical education for sustainability curriculum and bring other ways of knowing to education research, policy, and practice.

We found that through the experience of reading cli-fi in an education class, learners explored present concerns with the climate crisis, examined the role of education in the future of the planet, and envisioned potential solutions. Under the secure blanket of fiction, students engaged with uncomfortable and even scary fictional future scenarios, while remaining aware that those scenarios are intimately connected to the unsustainable current practices of industrialized societies (Webb, 2018). Importantly, by reading cli-fi, students faced their own climate anxieties and fears, while reflecting on what could be done differently in education and their own lives – on a daily basis – to articulate alternatives. In this way, contemporary speculative cli-fi offers a safe space in which to explore new thoughts and, in turn, encourage meaningful reflection and action (Leavenworth & Manni, 2021, p. 731). Based on the findings, we make recommendations for ways to more deeply connect cli-fi to current education pedagogies as we alternate and bring into being different education futures.

Authors

• Carrie Karsgaard, Cape Breton University

• Iveta Silova, Arizona State University

• Esther Pretti, Arizona State University

• Janna Goebel, Arizona State University