Description

We are thrilled to announce Intersectional Futurisms: Navigating Margins, Disrupting Norms, a two-day transdisciplinary artsci (artistic-scientific) seminar that will critically engage with the intersections of marginalization, (digitally mediated) social interactions, anti-colonial praxis, and futurism. This event moves beyond solely examining present challenges imposed by enduring coloniality to actively envisioning and fostering brighter, anti-oppressive, liberatory futures. By bridging artistic and scholarly approaches, this seminar aims to disrupt existing oppressive norms and reimagine how technology, creativity, and humane connection can contribute to transformative possibilities for marginalized communities.

Drawing on diverse strands of intersectional futurism—including, but no limited to, Afrofuturism, queer futurism, Indigenous futurism, crip futurism, and eco-futurism—this seminar centers the voices, experiences, and creative agency of those navigating multiple axes of oppression along with their allies. These futurist frameworks offer a critical lens to explore how marginalized individuals resist oppression, reclaim agency, and imagine alternative worlds rooted in equity and empowerment. For example, Afrofuturism situates Black and other African creativity and liberation in speculative futures that disrupt colonial and racial narratives (Eshun, 2003; Nelson, 2002). Similarly, queer futurism celebrates fluidity and non-normativity, envisioning inclusive futures that subvert cis-heteronormative paradigms (Muñoz, 2009). Indigenous futurism reclaims Indigenous knowledge systems, histories, and spiritualities, positioning them at the forefront of future-building in resistance to settler-colonial erasure and destruction of natural resources (Dillon, 2016). Crip futurism envisions accessible futures where disability is celebrated as a source of creativity and knowledge, disrupting ableist frameworks of value and productivity (Kafer, 2013). Eco-futurism, in turn, explores sustainability, environmental justice, and collective resilience, challenging the capitalist exploitation of nature and its disproportionate impacts on marginalized communities (Whyte, 2018). These diverse futurisms converge in their commitment to envisioning futures that are radically restorative, expansive, and just.

Grounded in intersectional methodologies (Crenshaw, 1989), this seminar prioritizes the voices of those most affected by overlapping systems of oppression along with their active and engaged allies. Intersectionality offers a crucial framework for understanding how ‘micro-coloniality’ (Ibnelkaïd, forthcoming) operates at the intersections of racial affiliation, gendered identity, sexuality, (dis)ability, and class in everyday social interactions. The urgency of these discussions is heightened by the increasingly pervasive role of digital technologies in mediating daily life. Within digital spaces, colonial dynamics are often reproduced and emphasized, as technologies like algorithms, surveillance systems, and platform economies perpetuate systemic inequities (Noble, 2018; Benjamin, 2019). Algorithmic bias disproportionately affects racialized, gender-nonconforming, and disabled individuals, embedding systemic discrimination into seemingly neutral systems (Benjamin, 2019). However, these same digital spaces also serve as sites of resistance and creativity, where marginalized groups forge radical solidarity, tell their own stories, and disrupt hegemonic narratives (Nakamura, 2008; Costanza-Chock, 2020). Grassroots movements, artistic practices, and organized actions from marginalized groups demonstrate the potential of digital technologies to build alternative stories, experiences, and futures.

This paradoxical duality—technologies serving both as mechanisms of exclusion and as tools of empowerment—underscores the importance of critical futurist approaches that interrogate existing systems of hypermodern coloniality while imagining transformative paths. This seminar seeks to amplify acts of reclamation and resistance, recognizing them as essential to disrupting dominant power structures and crafting empowering visions of tomorrow.

The seminar also emphasizes the need for innovative and experimental approaches to knowledge production and dissemination. Traditional academic methodologies often fail to capture the complexities of intersectional experiences, relying on detached and Eurocentric frameworks that prioritize dominant perspectives. This event invites contributors to challenge these norms by employing decolonial, intentional, and creative methods. Whether through artistic performance, speculative design, digital storytelling, or other experimental formats, participants are invited to explore new ways of studying and representing the nexus of marginalization, sociability, digitality, and futurism.

In envisioning a brighter future, this transdisciplinary seminar is anchored in anti-colonial and anti-oppressive principles. Anti-colonial frameworks challenge the systemic inequities that underpin global hierarchies of power, labor, and knowledge, emphasizing the importance of redistributing resources and valuing diverse epistemologies (Tuck & Yang, 2012). Meanwhile, eco-feminist, queer, and Indigenous scholars emphasize the importance of relationality, care, and sustainability in imagining futures where all beings—human and other-than-human—can thrive (Ahmed, 2010; Haraway, 2016). By incorporating these principles, the seminar aims to create a safe space where critical reflection and actionable change converge, fostering meaningful dialogue on the futures we collectively imagine and concretely build.

(author: Ibnelkaïd Samira)