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This week's conversation with scientist turned author SB Divya and philosophy student turned conceptual artist Jonathon Keats continues our series on climate futures by beginning with the notion of a thought experiment, and how that is manifested in both Divya’s fiction and Jonathon’s art projects. They discuss the tools each of them uses to invite their audiences to participate with them in optimistic speculation about the future, and how they try to overcome resistance to that journey through entertainment and playfulness. In questioning why we tend to look for definitive answers and discount our own subjective experiences, they lead us to home in on the commonalities between creativity or “the artistic mindset” and the scientific method, which are often presented as opposing each other. And recalling our previous episode with James Paul Gee, if we are able to let go of the assumption of human exceptionalism—for example considering time in terms of the cycle of a river, or the life of a tree—we are able to gain new perspectives on our humanity.

A Full transcript of this episode will be available soon!

Here are some of the references from this episode, for those who want to dig a little deeper:

SB Divya’s work:
Machinehood
Contingency Plans for the Apocalypse and Other Possible Situations
Runtime

Jonathan Keats’ work:
Thought Experiments
Pornography for Plants
Strange Skies - Travel documentaries for plants
DIY Universe Kit
The Century Camera
The Millennium Camera
Fables: The Book of the Unknown
Work with the Earth Law Center
Flux Exchange

Black Mirror (Netflix)

Stanley Milgram

Caesium Standard (for the atomic clock)

What Is a Human? By James Paul Gee
Episode #80: James Paul Gee

Henry’s course: Science Fiction as Media Theory

Buckminster Fuller: Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth

Episode 84: Sarena Ulibarri and Ed Finn on Solarpunk
Episode 83: Indigenous Voices for Environmental Justice with Candis Callison & Julian Brave NoiseCat

Share your thoughts via Twitter with Henry, Colin and the How Do You Like It So Far? account! You can also email us at [email protected].

Music:
Koyaanisqatsi - reverse ( ISTAQSINAAYOK ) (from the original by Philip Glass)

“In Time” by Dylan Emmett and “Spaceship” by Lesion X.
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In Time (Instrumental) by Dylan Emmet  https://soundcloud.com/dylanemmet
Spaceship by Lesion X https://soundcloud.com/lesionxbeats
Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0
Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/in-time-instrumental
Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/lesion-x-spaceship
Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/AzYoVrMLa1Q

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This week, we’re joined by Sarena Ulibarri, Editor-in-Chief of World Weaver Press and a science fiction writer whose works include Glass and Gardens and Biketopia, and Ed Finn, the Director of the Center for Science and Imagination at Arizona State University, to talk about how solarpunk can shape our understanding of climate change, social issues, and the future. They discuss the immense potential of storytelling in defining an achievable vision for a more sustainable world through a version of science fiction that offers a balance of realism and imagination. In fact, this imagination, Ulibarri and Finn argue, is one of our greatest tools; because issues such as climate change and various sociopolitical concepts have many solutions, applied imagination can help us explore the wide variety of potential solutions as an alternative to fatalism or denial. They also touch upon the unique optimism of solarpunk, particularly in how proposing a better future through the lens of fiction has the ability to excite and invigorate readers towards enacting change. They note that people’s innate desire to feel good means that we must create a new language for debating the immense changes coming our way. This kind of optimism might be niche now, but Solarpunk literature and culture models alternatives and recruits people who actively work to achieve them. 

A full transcript of this episode will be available soon!

Here are some of the references from this episode, for those who want to dig a little deeper:

Some of Ullibarri’s works:
Glass and Gardens
Biketopia
Adventures in Zookeeping

 

Organizations, programs, and foundations mentioned:
World Weaver Press (Ulibarri is Editor-in-Chief)

 

Center for Science and Imagination at Arizona State University (Finn is Director) Projects include:
Future Tense, a collaboration between ASU, New America, and Slate magazine 
Luna City
The Weight of Light
Cities of Light

The Clarion Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers’ Workshop
Research Institute for Humanity and Nature
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL)

Media mentioned:
Solarpunk Chobani commercial

Authors mentioned:
Jeff VanderMeer
Marian Womack, author of The Swimmers
Neal Stephenson, author of “Innovation Starvation”
Margaret Atwood
Kim Stanley Robinson, author of ”The Coronavirus and Our Future”
Raymond Williams
Francesco Verso

For more on Solarpunk:
Imaginary Worlds Podcast: “Solarpunk the Future”

Trajectory of “Punk” artistic movements:
Punk Rock
Cyberpunk
Steampunk

Check these past episodes we referenced:
Episode 45: “Radicalized” with Cory Doctorow
Episode 64: Japanese Science Fiction with William O. Gardner
Episode 65: Design Fiction and the Pandemic with Bruce Sterling and Jasmina Tešanović
Episode 66: The Legacy of Octavia E. Butler with Damian E. Duffy, John Jennings, and Shelley Streeby
Episode 36: Korean Science Fiction: Imagining other worlds

Share your thoughts via Twitter with Henry, Colin and the How Do You Like It So Far? account! You can also email us at [email protected].

Music:
Sieudiver: Solarpunk City

“In Time” by Dylan Emmett and “Spaceship” by Lesion X.
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
In Time (Instrumental) by Dylan Emmet  https://soundcloud.com/dylanemmet
Spaceship by Lesion X https://soundcloud.com/lesionxbeats
Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0
Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/in-time-instrumental
Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/lesion-x-spaceship
Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/AzYoVrMLa1Q
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Candis Callison, an environmental journalist and associate professor at the University of British Columbia, and Julian Brave Noisecat, a Senior Media Fellow at the NDN Collective, join us today to talk about the role of Indigenous people in achieving environmental justice. They discuss methods that will better accommodate the inclusion of Indigenous voices in the present, particularly in approaching their stories through narratives that already exist such as marriage equality and climate change. There are, however, key differences between Indigenous perspectives on climate change and climate change as it is often presented in scientific and political spheres; Callison and Noisecat raise the concept of Indigenous knowledge to describe the largely historical and relational outlook on climate that Indigenous people have. They suggest that Indigenous people need to be included in the climate conversation but on their own terms, in ways that fully acknowledge and respect the deep history and context with which they live. This, of course, also requires that mainstream media shift their perspective on Indigenous populations, which, as it stands, mostly fits them into a victim-hero mold that fails to connect individual problems to larger Indigenous concerns. As journalists better understand the power they wield in shaping the media and our perceptions of the world, Callison and Noisecat argue that it’s important to bring Indigenous people into the present and future, respecting them not as simply victims or heroes, but as nuanced and human as any other community.

A full transcript of this episode will be available soon!

Here are some of the references from this episode, for those who want to dig a little deeper:

Apocalypse Then and Now – Julian Brave Noisecat’s piece in the Columbia Journalism Review
More of Julian’s writing

Candis Callison’s books:
How Climate Change Comes to Matter: The Communal Life of Facts
Reckoning: Journalism's Limits and Possibilities

Some of the Indigenous voices invoked in this episode:
Cowboy Smithx
Sheila Watt-Cloutier
Patricia Cochran
Robin Wall Kimmerer
Ghost Dance of the Lakota Sioux
International Indigenous Research Conference
Jenni Monet, Pueblo of Laguna
Debra A. Haaland
Grace Dillon

Catherine Porter’s article on the Inuit
NAJA’s calls for an apology of the above
Problematic NYT reporting on Deb Haaland Cabinet nomination

Indigenous organizations and publications:
NAJA – Native American Journalists’ Association
Indian Country Today
APTN (Canada)
mediaINDIGENA podcast

Threshold Podcast – not an Indigenous production, but a sustained journalistic engagement with native communities

Also check out Episode 73: Increasing Visibility is Existential for Native Communities, with Crystal Echo Hawk

Share your thoughts via Twitter with Henry, Colin and the How Do You Like It So Far? account! You can also email us at [email protected].

Music:
Stand Up / Stand N Rock #NoDAPL (Official Video)

“In Time” by Dylan Emmett and “Spaceship” by Lesion X.
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
In Time (Instrumental) by Dylan Emmet  https://soundcloud.com/dylanemmet
Spaceship by Lesion X https://soundcloud.com/lesionxbeats
Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0
Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/in-time-instrumental
Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/lesion-x-spaceship
Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/AzYoVrMLa1Q
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Bridgit Antoinette Evans and Tracy Van Slyke, co-founders of the Pop Culture Collaborative, join us today to talk about the meaning of a pluralistic society, pop culture for social change, and the intersection between the arts and social activism spheres. They delve into the notion of narrative oceans, how they can be used to unify people’s experiences but also drive harmful stereotypes of populations, such as the anti-Islamic rhetoric post-9/11 that informed media depictions and created swirls in the ocean. They posit that it’s our work to not only reform existing narrative oceans but to also craft new ones that are more inclusive. For example, the narrative ocean surrounding Black women’s leadership, whether that’s at home or in politics, inspires more people to engage with the power they always had; by doing so, the U.S. is able to evolve into a stronger, more democratic nation. This is not accomplished by the work of just one Black woman character but a movement to better portray them across all media; thus, intentional storytelling is key to reforming our narrative oceans. Evans and Van Slyke also delve into the creation of the PCC as a space of deep learning and to build a field working at the intersection of pop culture and social justice. They touch on the American desire for belonging and how, structurally, there are factors that already determine who does or does not. While movements such as Black Lives Matter challenge conventional ideas of belonging, it is also important to engage with the idea of pluralism and cultural fluidity: a commitment to actively move out of the familiar to forge bonds with people different from us and to do so from a place of accountability. Ultimately, the questions they aim to answer involve both art and activism: How can artists immerse themselves in social justice analysis in relation to the stories they tell? How do you engage with social justice in an emotional way? Right now, Evans, Van Slyke, and the PCC advise that the answer lies in staying open-minded and inspired for the future!

A full transcript of this conversation will be available soon!

Here are some of the references from this episode, for those who want to dig a little deeper:

Grants and spaces for artists in entertainment:
Harness
Storyline Partners
Yes, And Laughter Lab
Becoming America fund
Starfish Accelerator

Research
Think Tank for Inclusion and Equity

Mass audience activation and innovation
National Domestic Workers Alliance
Roma, which the NDWA was invested in promoting

White Paper on Fan Activism

24 and the Bush Administration 
Homeland struggles with Muslim Representation
American Muslim Response to Ramy
Ms. Marvel as Muslim Superhero

Check out these previous episodes with guests who were funded by Pop Culture Collaborative:
Episode 73: Increasing Visibility is Existential for Native Communities, with Crystal Echo Hawk
Episode 69: The Power of Fan activism with Janae Phillips and Shawn Taylor
Episode 28: Taking risks: comedy as tool for social justice with Caty Borum Chattoo

Share your thoughts via Twitter with Henry, Colin and the How Do You Like It So Far? account! You can also email us at [email protected].

Music:
“In Time” by Dylan Emmett and “Spaceship” by Lesion X.
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
In Time (Instrumental) by Dylan Emmet  https://soundcloud.com/dylanemmet
Spaceship by Lesion X https://soundcloud.com/lesionxbeats
Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0
Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/in-time-instrumental
Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/lesion-x-spaceship
Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/AzYoVrMLa1Q
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Share your via email at [email protected].

This week’s guest, Warren Hedges, teaches a course at the Southern Oregon University on how speculative genres such as science fiction and fantasy help us imagine more inclusive cultures, societies, and worlds. He shared some thoughts on Facebook about Jacob Chansley, the so-called “Q Shaman” who participated in the January 6 insurrection in the U.S. Capital and the ways his dress and tattoos reflected long-standing nationalist and racist themes in High Fantasy. Across this conversation, Hedges traces out some of the links, including the connection between fantasy and representations of national character, the ways these ideas about race shape modern gaming, what it means for white supremacists to “play Indian,” the Greek and Roman iconography of the U.S. Capital and how it means different things for the North and the South, the way Birth of a Nation and The Clansman built on Sir Walter Scott’s fantasies regarding Scottish history, and the ways contemporary fantasy writers of color are expanding the genre’s relationship to mythology and nostalgia, among other topics. This far-reaching discussion explores the relationship between genre fiction and far-right politics, helping to make sense of some of the images associated with the January 6 insurrection.

A full transcript of this conversation will be available soon!

Here are some of the references from this episode, for those who want to dig a little deeper:

Right Wing Politics and Iconography: 
Q-Shaman Jacob Chansley 
Right wing appropriates Viking culture
Charlottesville shield
Tea Party Movement
QAnon
A Second American Revolution
Right Wing cosplayers
Flags of the Insurrection

The High Fantasy Tradition
J.R.R. Tolkien -- translation of Beowulf
Worm Tongue in Lord of the Rings
ReDiscovery of Beowulf
Brothers Grimm
Johann Gottfried von Herder
High Fantasy
Game of Thrones
Orcs, Klingons as African-American

Further Reading on Fantasy
Brian Atteberry, Stories About Stories 
Michael Saler, As If: Modern Enchantment and the Literary Prehistory of Virtual Reality
Henry on the need to rethink genre

Games and Gaming
Roots of Dungeons and Dragons 
Assassin's Creed: Valhalla
Skyrim – Warren’s Videos on Racial Coding and Gender Coding in Skyrim
Stranger Things

Rewriting the Fantasy Genre
Sylvia Moreno-Garcia, Gods of Jade and Shadow 
Marlon James, Black Leopard, Red Wolf
Grace L. Dillon, Walking the Clouds: An Anthology of Indigenous Science Fiction
Adrienne Maree Brown and Walidah Imarisha, Octavia’s Brood: Science Fiction Stories from
Social Justice Movements
Grimdark
Wakanda

Scottish Nationalism and the Klu Klux Klan
D.W. Griffith, Birth of A Nation and crossburning
Thomas Dixon, The Clansman
Martin Luther King on white supremacy
Sir Walter Scott and nationalism
Mark Twain -- Sir Walter Scott caused Civil War 

Native American Imagery
“Playing Indian”
Grace L. Dillon, Walking the Clouds: An Anthology of Indigenous Science Fiction
Lydia Maria Child
Boston Tea Party -- Indian imagery

The Iconography of the American Capital
Trump’s 1776 Commission and the New York Time’s 1619 series
Greek and Roman Imagery in Capital
George Washington as Roman Hero
Greek Revival
William Faulkner on the past
Lincoln and Pericles
City Beautiful movement
Thomas Jefferson’s changing views on slavery’
Benjamin Franklin discusses the “lovely white”
Hamilton and Diverse America
Oregon as haven for white people

Svetlana Boym on Nostalgia

Superhero Mythology
Donald Trump as Captain America 
The Punisher and Blue Lives Matter

Share your thoughts via Twitter with Henry, Colin and the How Do You Like It So Far? account! You can also email us at [email protected].

Music:
“In Time” by Dylan Emmett and “Spaceship” by Lesion X.
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
In Time (Instrumental) by Dylan Emmet  https://soundcloud.com/dylanemmet
Spaceship by Lesion X https://soundcloud.com/lesionxbeats
Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0
Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/in-time-instrumental
Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/lesion-x-spaceship
Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/AzYoVrMLa1Q
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Share your via email at [email protected].