This session aims to introduce people to practically using speculative fiction. Whether used for improving research questions, inspiring activism/advocacy or serving as a teaching tool, there are many aspects of STEM where speculative fiction can be applied. However, it is still often needed to give people more familiarity with both the fiction and how it can be used. Time required: recommended minimum time of 1 hour.
This method is designed to help communities of people critique and update STEM policy. It is useful for a group of mixed abilities and experiences i.e. not only for people with professional policy-making experience Time required: recommended minimum time of 2 hours
As is probably no surprise, we are passionate about getting more attention on the prescient voices behind some of the most exciting works of fiction being written today. To…
'The whispers picked up, then receded, a cascade in the air. You already forgot us. Like every other human. Cut us down, betrayed us, forgot us. Leave what is ours and go. “Peace,” Muta pleaded. “I have not forgotten you.”'
‘"Apologies for disrupting your top twenty countdown.’ The DJ’s smooth, deep voice was more suited to dropping sweet nothings than issuing fake apologies. ‘Our friends at the Zambia Meteorological Centre have sent out an amber warning for an incoming dust storm. All areas of Lusaka are affected. That’s a dust storm, bantu banga. Stay in, stay safe."’
'She pulls a face. “Language and hidden histories matter. It’s from Kora, the tongue of the First People of the Cape, the now extinct Khoe. It means sweet water for all. The First Name for this place.”'
‘“Trees dey talk o,” she would say. “Dem dey talk about bad-bad things wey go happen for future.”’
"Our way of life is no longer sustainable, if we want to survive we have to adjust to the world, adapt and embrace it. For thousands of years humanity has tried to shape the world in its image. We failed and did so much damage to the world in the process. Now, we pay it back."'
After a disaster, technology protects some people and some places but not others: '“Do you think the people on the outside are okay?” “Seeing as they’re always trying to get in here, I take it they’re not.”.“We should just let them in.” “We— We can’t.” “Why?”'
Set in New Delta, a city rebuilt on drained swampland in former oilfields, the protagonist, Chioma, is expectant and is caught up in labor during a violent, unpredicted storm linked to bioengineered periwinkle grass.