Educational futures and social justice

Abstract

This paper considers educational futures from the perspective of social justice. It takes as its framework futures studies, which looks at what is probable (what is likely to happen), what is possible (what could happen), and what is preferable (what we would like to see/make happen). It also makes the case for science fiction as a method of inquiry, arguing that science fiction is a useful method for determining what we think we might (or might not) want futures to look like, as well as where we think we are now. Science fiction, the paper argues, is as much about our anxieties about the present and where we might be headed as it is about any sort of futures we may ultimately arrive at. The paper draws from the works of well-known science fiction authors of color (WEB DuBois, Octavia Butler, NK Jemisin) as well as from lesser-known science fiction authors writing from American Indian, Latino/a/X, and LGBTQIA + communities. In so doing, the paper explores how science fiction has infiltrated the social imagination and how it leads to paths both dystopian (à la Elon Musk) and liberating (such as Afrofuturism). It concludes with examples of the probable, the possible, and the preferable in educational futures, drawing from contemporary science fiction stories centered on social justice.