Impossible Dreaming: On Speculative Education Fiction and Hopeful Learning Futures

Abstract

In this paper, we grapple with the possibility of rethinking education futures by arguing for the continued use of speculative education fiction in critical education studies, a method which has the potential for radical imagination. However, we note that, as a research method, such fictions need to rely less on what we identify as pessimistic visions of the future, which are visions exploring themes such as disconnection, lack of autonomy and sovereignty, and technological, corporate, state and/or authoritarian control, as these visions and themes are currently over-represented in recent publications using this method. We further demonstrate the limits of these thematic visions by tracing the relationship between the ways in which pessimistic storytelling, related as it is to apocalyptic storytelling, risks reinforcing inequality, especially with respect to settler colonial injustice. Alternatively, we propose using this method to help develop hopeful futures. These are futures shaped by themes, such as connection, agency and community and individual flourishment, and suggest a turn to the genres of hopepunk, solarpunk and visionary fiction as models of storytelling grounded in hope which imagines more liberatory education and learning futures.

Imagining Education Futures: Researchers as Fiction Authors

“…They [hopeful stories] need to become a part of enabling the end of such systems. (Houlden and Veletsianos 2022 )…”

Deliberately Destructive Speculative Design

“…They need to become a part of enabling the end of such systems. (Houlden and Veletsianos 2022) We find all these papers inspiring, but we are also spurred to ask several (other) questions. Together with asking 'what educational futures and technologies can we imagine (to make things better)?…”

“…A number of recent Postdigital Science and Education articles have discussed the strengths and limitations of future-oriented and speculative methods in education (Cerratto Pargman et al 2022;Houlden and Veletsianos 2022;Suoranta et al 2022;Traxler et al 2021). For example, Traxler et al (2021) present an encompassing survey relating to the question of 'what's next?'…”

“…To further our argument, we may lean on Houlden and Veletsianos (2022), who not only highlight the importance of imaginaries of education which are built on hopefulness and positive futures, but also, perhaps more importantly, stress the need to oppose, dismantle, and terminate current systems:…”

Higher education for good

“…asking "what if" instead of "what is". Speculative approaches enable working with the future as a space of uncertainty, collaborative and creative imagining/reimagining, deepening our understanding of the present, and bringing capacious realities into being (Houlden & Veletsianos, 2022;Ross, 2022). Authors of three chapters in the book detail their use of speculative approaches.…”