Dissertation Studies: Speculative Essays ~ Speculative Memoir ~ Black Speculative Writing

In this session on pushing methodological boundaries, a group of researchers present their dissertation studies. These researchers use speculative essays (Schubert, 1991; also Foy, 2021; Negley, 2021; Schmidt, 2021), speculative memoir, Black speculative writing (e.g., science fiction, fantasy, magical realism, and Afrofuturism; Allen & Cherelle, 2019; Cooper, in progress) as forms of curriculum inquiry into a wide array of topics such as schooled to educate but not to profit--the political economy of education; if Black males could thrive: letters to our Black sons in white America through James Baldwin; culturally contested curriculum--African American students and classical education; Freedom’s song: cultivating creativity and releasing imagination through music--speculative memoir; speculating and resisting neoliberalism in teacher education; speculating a curriculum of empowerment, imagination, creativity, and wonder amidst the sabotaging confines of education standardization; where honeysuckles and azaleas bloom: a Southern Black woman reclaiming voice: a memoir; a Black women educator’s journey to anti-ableism, a memoir; shunned to death: the joys and fears of a Black mother sending her sons to school in the South: a memoir; Otherwise futures reimagined: Afrofuturism as liberation for Black women--a speculative fiction. These researchers explore creative ways to push methodological boundaries, perform dissertation writing and liberate academic writing by diving into life, writing into contradictions, and living against oppressions in schools, families, and communities in the U. S. South. Theoretical traditions and modes of expression are particularly explored. Innovative writings engendered from composing speculative essays, speculative memoir, and Black speculative fiction are demonstrated. Potentials, challenges, and future directions of speculative essays, speculative memoir, and Black speculative fiction and its representations are discussed