1st Edition
Horizons of the Future Science Fiction, Utopian Imagination, and the Politics of Education
Horizons of the Future: Science Fiction, Utopian Imagination, and the Politics of Education examines the relationship between science fiction, education, and social change in the 21st century.
Global capitalism is ecologically unsustainable and ethically indefensible; time is running out to alter the course of history if humanity is to have hope of a livable future beyond the next century. However, alternatives are possible, offering much more equality, care, justice, joy, and hope than the established order. Popular culture and schools are key sites of struggles to imagine such alternatives. Drawing on critical theory, cultural studies, and sociology, Slater articulates the promising connection between science fiction and the future of education. He offers cutting-edge engagement with themes, perspectives, and modes of imagination in science fiction that can be mobilized politically and pedagogically to envision and enact critical forms of education that cultivate new utopian ways of relating to self, society, and the future.
This thought-provoking book will be of interest to scholars and students in the social sciences and education.
Introduction
1. A Precarious Future: Rethinking Education in the 21st Century
2. The Fate of the Imagination: Capitalist Realism or Utopian Hope?
3. Foundations of the New: Science Fiction and Social Transformation
4. Learning at the End of the World: Toward an Apocalyptic Pedagogy
5. Troubleshooting the Future: The Postdigital Enclosure of Education
Conclusion
Biography
Graham B. Slater is an Associate Professor in the Department of Educational Leadership at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, USA. His work explores the political economy and cultural politics of education with an emphasis on ecological crisis, global capitalism, technological acceleration, and the future. He is a coeditor of Educational Commons in Theory and Practice: Global Pedagogy and Politics (2017) and author of numerous journal articles. He is also an Associate Editor of the Review of Education, Pedagogy, and Cultural Studies.
“Graham Slater’s book reveals a welcome new horizon for critical studies of education. It charts innovative paths and exposes new possibilities for educational theorists to seriously engage with the fictional worlds of a future imagination. Horizons of the Future is a must-read for anyone seeking future potential in the connections between science fiction and education.”
Abraham P. DeLeon, Professor of Social Foundations, University of Texas at San Antonio, USA
“Graham Slater has written a vital book that refuses the cynicism and fatalism that haunts contemporary education, culture, and politics. It is a sophisticated yet accessible text that wields science fiction as a pedagogical compass in these dark times. It is a must-read for educators, artists, and activists committed to reconstructing a common world.“
Alexander J. Means, Chair & Associate Professor of Educational Foundations, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, USA
