Worldbuilding as Activism: Injustice in Imagined Lands

Imagined worlds in speculative fiction can provide an outlet for the doom scroll of injustices we experience and absorb every day. Stories help us find our way out of collective trauma, revealing the way to better (and worse) worlds. We juxtapose the imagined world with the real and invite comparisons. We force the question: Does it have to be this way? In this workshop, we’ll explore activist worldbuilding strategies and the politics of imagined culture, history, and place, with an emphasis on understanding how authors create commentary about the real world through speculative fiction.