Into the Multiverse
Speculative Play Practice for the Future(s) of Higher Education at the 2023 Teaching, Learning, and Innovation Summer Institute
In May 2023, Frankie Rubio, Catalina Pajarito, Jessie Cheng, Fikayo Odugbemi, Ijeoma Njaka, and I designed and co-facilitated a workshop inspired by speculative fiction and informed by the principles of anti-racism.
Workshop participants learned how to apply speculative design principles to imagining anti-racist learning environments. After introducing participants to speculative design and anti-racism frameworks, we ask workshop participants to imagine a higher education learning experience that is set in scenarios pulled from media and literature.
In a scene from Wakanda Forever (Black Panther II), Princess Shuri and Okoye describe MIT as one of the little Wakandian village schools. We are inspired by this claim and think it will be interesting to speculate about what the higher education experience in Wakanda. The idea of Wakanda is a manifestation of Afro-futurism - a science fiction genre that centers Black history and culture. Afro-futurism is also a tool that is used to complicate realities and imagine futures where people of color (specifically, black people) are liberated and thriving. In this light, we imagined how a Wakandan higher education institution would prioritize anti-racist practices and inclusive teaching, alongside other worlds drawn from media and literature. During the workshops we explored this imagining with educators and students through a speculative design vision board activity.
Groups chose from the scenarios from media and literature listed below as the spaces to locate their speculative university:
Star Wars - The future of the resistance
Jetsons - Family and lifelong learning
Star Trek - Decolonizing the institution
Wakanda - Nation-state level education policy
Sultana’s Dream - Speculative futures through a feminist lens
Each group worked on developing a vision board for a higher education institution in response to their speculative prompt. Afterward, they shared their visions with the larger group. We hope that participants were inspired to reimagine their relationship with reality and to apply this practice to their work!
