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DTSTART;TZID=America/Indiana/Indianapolis:20250819T183000
DTEND;TZID=America/Indiana/Indianapolis:20250819T200000
DTSTAMP:20260501T103819
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SUMMARY:Speculative Play & Just Futurities Public Lecture: Dr. Kanika Batra
DESCRIPTION:“Black Freedom: From Selma to Soweto” Public Lecture featuring Dr. Kanika Batra\n\n\nBlack Freedom from Selma to Soweto examines women’s leadership in 1960s–70s student movements\, revealing their vital role in racial and gender equality in the U.S. and South Africa.  Join the IU Indianapolis Arts and Humanities Institute on August 19\, 2025\, 6:30pm at Indiana Humanities for a public lecture with Dr. Kanika Batra\, their August 2025 scholar in residence with the Speculative Play and Just Futurities program.\n\n\nAlthough Selma and Soweto are the most famous markers of two globally inspirational struggles for racial equality in the last half of the twentieth century\, the movements themselves are known largely through the lives and ideas of a few charismatic leaders. Charting multiple forms of leadership and influence\, movement participants\, historians\, social scientists\, and novelists has revised this focus on male leaders\, exclusion of women’s roles\, and the perception that South African student activists borrowed their ideas from those in the United States.\n\n\n\n\nDr. Kanika Batra is Professor of English and Affiliate Faculty in Women’s Studies at Texas Tech University. She researches and teaches transnational feminist and queer studies\, globalization\, urbanization\, postcolonial and comparative literature. She the author of Caribbean Poetry: Derek Walcott and Edward Brathwaite (2001)\, Feminist Visions and Queer Futures in Postcolonial Drama (2011)\, and Worlding Postcolonial Sexualities: Publics\, Counterpublics\, Human Rights (2022)\, winner of the 2020 National Women’s Studies Association award in Subversive Histories and Feminist Futures.\nInformation about Kanika Batra’s artwork and creative research is available at kanikabatra.com.\n\n____\nPlease be advised that this workshop will explore subjects related to race\, violence\, and identity. These discussions might include sensitive content that could be distressing or triggering for some participants. We encourage all attendees to prioritize their mental and emotional well-being and feel free to step away from the session if needed.\n____\nThe Speculative Play and Just Futurities (SPJF) program leverages narrative storytelling and creative worldbuilding in speculative writing and design\, including science fiction\, fantasy\, gaming\, and new digital media like virtual reality\, to challenge oppression and reimagine our world. It focuses on creating forums for discussing and theorizing literature to envision just futures. Central to SPJF is a residency for emerging scholars and creators\, fostering intellectual and creative growth. SPJF also hosts weekly colloquia for students and faculty\, featuring resident interactions and collaborative learning opportunities. Speculative Play and Just Futurities is made possible through the generous support of the Mellon Foundation. SPJF is a collaboration between the IU Indianapolis Arts and Humanities Institute\, the Center for Africana Studies and Culture\, and the Ray Bradbury Center. Learn more about the SPJF residency by visiting our website: www.SPJF.org
URL:https://indianahumanities.org/event/speculative-play-just-futurities-public-lecture-dr-kanika-batra/
LOCATION:Indiana Humanities\, 1500 N Delaware St.\, Indianapolis\, IN\, 46202
CATEGORIES:Community Event
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ORGANIZER;CN="IU Indianapolis Arts & Humanities Institute":MAILTO:iahi@iupui.edu
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Indiana/Indianapolis:20241016T183000
DTEND;TZID=America/Indiana/Indianapolis:20241016T200000
DTSTAMP:20260501T103819
CREATED:20240823T183952Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241007T170100Z
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SUMMARY:Speculative Play and Just Futurities | Fereshteh Toosi and Dr. Shardé M. Davis
DESCRIPTION:Fereshteh Toosi and Dr. Shardé M. Davis\, scholars-in-residence in the Speculative Play and Just Futurities program\, will lead a conversation featuring their SPJF project: The Crude Medium and The Sabbath Project (TSP). \n\n\nFereshteh Toosi (they/them/theirs) designs experiences and art objects that pose questions and foster animistic connections. Their artwork often involves documentary processes\, oral history\, and archival research. Immersive performances are produced in conjunction with small sculptures\, short films\, installations\, scores\, and poetry\, often situated in gardens\, parks\, and waterways. \nIn 2022\, Fereshteh developed an augmented-reality audio experience for the Independence Seaport Museum with support from the University of Pennsylvania’s Program in Environmental Humanities. In 2021\, they participated in the Montréal/Miami New Narratives Lab hosted by the National Film Board of Canada\, O Cinema\, MUTEK\, and FilmGate Interactive. They also earned a Knight New Work 2020 award for their project Oil Ancestors\, and a Miami Live Arts Lab Alliance residency to develop Metaphysical Hotline\, a performance by telephone for an audience of one. Fereshteh’s project Water Radio: Liquid Intelligence is a series of contemplative canoe and kayak outings supported by The Ellies Creator Award. \nFereshteh is an Associate Professor in the digital area of the Art and Art History Department of the College of Communication\, Architecture\, and the Arts at Florida International University in Miami. Before joining the faculty at FIU\, Fereshteh held a full-time teaching appointment at Columbia College Chicago\, the Ford Foundation Faculty Fellowship in Arts and Civil Engagement at Syracuse University\, and Visiting Assistant Professor appointments at Saint Mary’s College of Maryland and Frostburg State University\, among others. \nDocumentation of Fereshteh’s artwork and creative research is available at http://fereshteh.net and at http://oilancestors.com \nThe Crude Medium is a playful\, interactive experience about the cultural significance of oil. This live-action role play (LARP) séance is haunted by fossil spirits\, ocean garbage\, oil tycoons\, snails\, and coral\, among others. The Crude Medium holds space for participants to imagine themselves as future ancestors to a post-oil culture. How do we learn from the past and what is our responsibility to future generations? How can constructing an alternative narrative serve as a dress rehearsal for actual changes we can make in our lives?\n \nDr. Shardé M. Davis (she/her/hers) is an Associate Professor in the Department of Communication and Faculty Affiliate of various research institutes at the University of Connecticut. Her research examines the way Black women leverage communication in the sistah circle to invoke collective identity\, erect and fortify the boundaries around their homeplace\, and backfill the necessary resources to return to white/male dominant spaces in American society. These ideas have been published in over 50 peer-refereed articles and invited book chapters\, and are best represented in her theory\, “The Strong Black Woman Collective.” \nHer research was formally recognized with the 2018 American Postdoctoral Fellowship from the American Association of University Women and the 2019 Ford Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship. In addition to her program of research\, Dr. Davis created the viral Twitter Hashtag #BlackintheIvory\, which extended a timely opportunity for Blackademic TRUTHtellers to share personal instances (and engage in necessary conversations) about anti-Black racism in academia. She is also the inaugural recipient of the 2021-2022 Faculty of Color Working Group Fellowship funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to edit a new book\, Being Black in the Ivory: Truth Telling about Racism in Higher Education (University of North Carolina Press\, 2024). \nThe Sabbath Project (TSP) is envisioned as an all-encompassing tool that re-imagines a future where Black/women faculty have access to the hidden curriculum and use the information to\, first\, take a sabbatical and\, second\, design a sabbatical plan that meets university guidelines and the faculty person’s needs and desires. TSP serves as a formative and practical tool that contributes to a more just future for a group of scholars who have been historically relegated to the margins. \nThe Speculative Play and Just Futurities (SPJF) program leverages narrative storytelling and creative world-building in speculative writing and design\, including science fiction\, fantasy\, gaming\, and new digital media like virtual reality\, to challenge oppression and reimagine our world. It focuses on creating forums for discussing and theorizing literature to envision just futures. Central to SPJF is a residency for emerging scholars and creators\, fostering intellectual and creative growth. SPJF also hosts weekly colloquia for students and faculty\, featuring resident interactions and collaborative learning opportunities. \nSpeculative Play and Just Futurities is made possible through the generous support of the Mellon Foundation. SPJF is a collaboration between the IU Indianapolis Arts and Humanities Institute\, the Center for Africana Studies and Culture\, and the Ray Bradbury Center. Learn more about the SPJF residency by visiting our website: https://www.spjf.org/.
URL:https://indianahumanities.org/event/speculative-play-and-just-futurities-fereshteh-toosi-and-dr-sharde-m-davis/
LOCATION:Indiana Humanities\, 1500 N Delaware St.\, Indianapolis\, IN\, 46202
CATEGORIES:Community Event
ORGANIZER;CN="IU Indianapolis Arts & Humanities Institute":MAILTO:iahi@iupui.edu
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Indiana/Indianapolis:20240924T183000
DTEND;TZID=America/Indiana/Indianapolis:20240924T200000
DTSTAMP:20260501T103819
CREATED:20240823T182424Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240828T133850Z
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SUMMARY:Speculative Play and Just Futurities | Dr. Jazma Sutton and Dr. Emmanuel Saboro
DESCRIPTION:Dr. Jazma Sutton and Dr. Emmanuel Saboro will present “Moving Toward Freedom: Black Women\, Slavery\, and Freedom in Antebellum Indiana” and Sites of Memory: Visuality and Metaphors of the Slave Experience in Ghana. \n\n\nDr. Jazma Sutton (she/her/hers) is an assistant professor at Miami University. Her research focuses on the histories of slavery and freedom in the U.S. with a particular interest in African American women’s history and the Midwest. She is currently working on a book project that chronicles the lives of Black women–free\, enslaved\, and self-liberated– in antebellum Indiana and the ways in which they overcame social\, legal\, and geographic obstacles to develop regional identities\, carve out space for themselves as citizens\, and ensure family survival. \nDr. Sutton aims to explore the potential of speculative archives to uncover new ways of documenting the experiences of Black women in the antebellum Midwest. Through the creation of a digital archival resource guide\, her project seeks to provide a critique of the production\, collection\, categorization\, and future discoverability of sources related to Black women within Indiana’s predominantly white archives. Moving beyond traditional archival practices to center the sources\, archives\, and oral histories produced by nineteenth-century Black women and their descendants\, her project demonstrates how Black archives\, and descendant knowledge in particular\, can reshape our view of the past and how we preserve it in the future. \nDr. Emmanuel Saboro\, PhD (he/him) is an Associate Professor in Transdisciplinary Studies: African Literature\, Cultural Memory\, and Slavery Studies at the Centre for African and International Studies\, University of Cape Coast\, Ghana. He obtained his PhD at the Wilberforce Institute for the Study of Slavery and Emancipation (WISE)\, University of Hull\, England. He has published extensively on memories of slavery in Ghana. His most recent book is Wounds of Our Past: Remembering Captivity\, Enslavement and Resistance in African Oral Narratives (2022) published in the Global Slavery Series\, Brill Leiden and Boston. \nDuring the SPJF Residency at Indiana University\, Professor Saboro will be working on the project\, Sites of Memory: Visuality and Metaphors of the Slave Experience in Ghana. This is a work in progress and builds on an already vibrant body of scholarship on memory studies in Africa. Its major originality is that it will expand our current understanding of the enterprise of enslavement and the slave trade by calling for a re-reading of key cultural and historical sites\, connected to the slave experience in Ghana beyond their structural representations but as symbolic spaces that can “speak” and be understood only through the imagination and the invocation of metaphor. \n\nThe Speculative Play and Just Futurities program leverages narrative storytelling and creative world-building in speculative writing and design\, including science fiction\, fantasy\, gaming\, and new digital media like virtual reality\, to challenge oppression and reimagine our world. It focuses on creating forums for discussing and theorizing literature to envision just futures. Central to SPJF is a residency for emerging scholars and creators\, fostering intellectual and creative growth. SPJF also hosts weekly colloquia for students and faculty\, featuring resident interactions and collaborative learning opportunities. \nSpeculative Play and Just Futurities is made possible through the generous support of the Mellon Foundation. SPJF is a collaboration between the IU Indianapolis Arts and Humanities Institute\, the Center for Africana Studies and Culture\, and the Ray Bradbury Center. Learn more about the SPJF residency by visiting our website: https://www.spjf.org/.
URL:https://indianahumanities.org/event/speculative-play-and-just-futurities-dr-jazma-sutton-and-dr-emmanuel-saboro/
LOCATION:Witherspoon Presbterian Church\, 3535 West Kessler Blvd N Dr\, Indianapolis\, IN\, 46222
CATEGORIES:Community Event
ORGANIZER;CN="IU Indianapolis Arts & Humanities Institute":MAILTO:iahi@iupui.edu
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Indiana/Indianapolis:20240918T183000
DTEND;TZID=America/Indiana/Indianapolis:20240918T200000
DTSTAMP:20260501T103819
CREATED:20240823T181607Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240828T133817Z
UID:10001642-1726684200-1726689600@indianahumanities.org
SUMMARY:Speculative Play and Just Futurities | Nico Valdivia Hennig and Dr. Isabel Pérez-Ramos
DESCRIPTION:Nico Valdivia Hennig and Dr. Isabel Pérez-Ramos will lead conversations featuring their SPJF projects: “Beyond the Gap\, A Migrant’s Journey” and “Dismantling the Wasteocene through Solidarity.”\n \n\n\nNico Valdivia Hennig (he/they) is an award-winning Chilean game designer\, ludic activist\, and cultural studies researcher with over a decade of experience in game design. Currently\, they are a PhD student in Hispanic Studies at the University of California\, Riverside\, with a designated emphasis in Speculative Fiction and Cultures of Science. Their research focuses on ludic activism\, game design\, and game production in the Global South\, particularly in Latin America. \nNico co-founded Niebla Games\, which has launched both board and video games for PC and mobile platforms. In 2022\, their studio was selected for Google’s Indie Games Accelerator program. Notable accolades include “Best Game Design” at EVA Córdoba 2019 in Argentina\, “Best Chilean Studio of 2021\,” and recent nominations for the Explorer Award at the AMaze/Berlin Festival of Experimental Game Art 2024\, as well as for Best Social Matters Game & Best Diversity Game at the BIG Festival/Gamescom Latam 2024 in São Paulo\, Brazil. Additionally\, Nico has extensive experience lecturing on game design and narrative within game development programs in Chile. They are also a co-founder of Río Junto\, a Latin American cultural exchange hub\, and a founding member of Ludocrítica\, the Chilean Critical Games Studies Network. \n“Beyond the Gap: A Migrant’s Journey” is a project that aims to explore the complex migration crises in the Americas\, particularly through the perilous Darien Gap. The game will explore the diverse reasons driving migration\, the harsh realities faced along one of the world’s most dangerous routes\, and the impact of socio-political factors on migrants. This project delves into various aspects and temporalities of migration\, including a speculative look at a post-dystopian future\, utilizing open-source tools to craft an interactive experience that encourages reflection on broader migratory narratives and the potential for more equitable futures. \nIsabel Pérez-Ramos (she/her/hers) is a Ramón y Cajal Research Fellow at the University of Oviedo (grant RYC2021-031353-I funded by MCIN/AEI /10.13039/501100011033 and by “European Union Next Generation EU/PRTR”). She is a member of the multidisciplinary research groups Intersections (University of Oviedo)\, and GIECO (Instituto Franklin\, UAH). \nIsabel’s research focuses on narrative representations of environmental injustices\, mostly in Chicanx and US Southwestern literature\, as well as in cli-fi and speculative fiction. \nShe is co-editor of Toward an Eco-Social Transition: Transatlantic Environmental Humanities (UAH\, 2021). Her research has been published in journals such as International Journal of English Studies IJES\, MELUS: Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States\, Revista Canaria de Estudios Ingleses\, Ecozon@: European Journal of Literature\, Culture and Environment and Environmental Humanities\, as well as in numerous book chapters. \nShe is Book Review Editor of Ecozon@ and a member of the Advisory Board of the European Association for the Study of Literature\, Culture and Environment. \n“Dismantling the Wasteocene through Solidarity” centers on the ways in which decolonial solidarities are mobilized through narrative strategies in speculative fiction by Chicanx authors to challenge socioenvironmental injustices. \n\nThe Speculative Play and Just Futurities program leverages narrative storytelling and creative world-building in speculative writing and design\, including science fiction\, fantasy\, gaming\, and new digital media like virtual reality\, to challenge oppression and reimagine our world. It focuses on creating forums for discussing and theorizing literature to envision just futures. Central to SPJF is a residency for emerging scholars and creators\, fostering intellectual and creative growth. SPJF also hosts weekly colloquia for students and faculty\, featuring resident interactions and collaborative learning opportunities. \nSpeculative Play and Just Futurities is made possible through the generous support of the Mellon Foundation. SPJF is a collaboration between the IU Indianapolis Arts and Humanities Institute\, the Center for Africana Studies and Culture\, and the Ray Bradbury Center. Learn more about the SPJF residency by visiting our website: https://www.spjf.org/.
URL:https://indianahumanities.org/event/speculative-play-and-just-futurities-nico-valdivia-hennig-and-dr-isabel-perez-ramos/
LOCATION:Indiana Historical Society\, 450 West Ohio Street\, Indianapolis\, IN\, 46202\, United States
CATEGORIES:Community Event
ORGANIZER;CN="IU Indianapolis Arts & Humanities Institute":MAILTO:iahi@iupui.edu
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Indiana/Indianapolis:20240828T183000
DTEND;TZID=America/Indiana/Indianapolis:20240828T200000
DTSTAMP:20260501T103819
CREATED:20240823T181329Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240828T133716Z
UID:10001641-1724869800-1724875200@indianahumanities.org
SUMMARY:Speculative Play and Just Futurities | Dr. Renee Hudson
DESCRIPTION:Dr. Renee Hudson\, scholar-in-residence in the Speculative Play and Just Futurities program\, will lead a conversation featuring her SPJF project: “Hegemonic Citizenship” in Latinx Girlhood and the Problem of Citizenship. \n\n\nRenee Hudson (she/her/ella) is an Assistant Professor and Director of Latinx & Latin American Studies at Chapman University. She specializes in hemispheric studies\, multiethnic literature\, speculative fiction\, genre studies\, and histories of revolution and resistance.  \nShe has published in Modern Fiction Studies\, CR: The New Centennial Review\, and has forthcoming pieces in The Cambridge Companion on Race and Literature and Latinx Literature in Transition Vol. 2\, also with Cambridge. She edited a cluster on Latinx speculative fiction for ASAP/J\, and her book reviews can be found in the Los Angeles Review of Books\, the Brooklyn Rail\, MELUS\, and ASAP/J. \nHer first book\, Latinx Revolutionary Horizons: Form and Futurity in the Americas\, from Fordham University Press (2024) examines how contemporary Latinx literature illustrates the hemispheric convergence of Latin American independence movements and the long history of US occupations and interventions. \nWhile many foundational texts of Latinx literature focus on boys\, Dr. Renee Hudson’s forthcoming book\, Latinx Girlhood and the Problem of Citizenship suggests centering the lives of girls offers quite different ways of apprehending Latinidad. Focusing on Latinx girls across a wide range of cultural productions underscores how issues of gender and sexuality undergird broader discourses surrounding citizenship and democracy. \nDuring her August SPJF residency\, Dr. Renee Hudson will concentrate on a chapter of her book\, Latinx Girlhood and the Problem of Citizenship. In “Hegemonic Citizenship”\, Dr. Hudson examines the first girl to appear in Latinx literature: María Dolores Medina (Lola) in María Amparo Ruiz de Burton’s Who Would Have Thought It? (1872\, republished in 1995). \nThis character sets the stage for the problems of citizenship that Dr. Hudson argues governs Latinx girlhood\, particularly in terms of nationality and assimilation: the Latinx possessive investment in whiteness that attends the disavowal of both Black and Indigenous heritage. Dr. Hudson will also address how young adult fiction is not inherently progressive. \nThe Speculative Play and Just Futurities program leverages narrative storytelling and creative world-building in speculative writing and design\, including science fiction\, fantasy\, gaming\, and new digital media like virtual reality\, to challenge oppression and reimagine our world. It focuses on creating forums for discussing and theorizing literature to envision just futures. Central to SPJF is a residency for emerging scholars and creators\, fostering intellectual and creative growth. SPJF also hosts weekly colloquia for students and faculty\, featuring resident interactions and collaborative learning opportunities. \nSpeculative Play and Just Futurities is made possible through the generous support of the Mellon Foundation. SPJF is a collaboration between the IU Indianapolis Arts and Humanities Institute\, the Center for Africana Studies and Culture\, and the Ray Bradbury Center. Learn more about the SPJF residency by visiting our website: https://www.spjf.org/.
URL:https://indianahumanities.org/event/speculative-play-and-just-futurities-dr-renee-hudson/
LOCATION:Indiana Humanities\, 1500 N Delaware St.\, Indianapolis\, IN\, 46202
CATEGORIES:Indiana Humanities Event
ORGANIZER;CN="IU Indianapolis Arts & Humanities Institute":MAILTO:iahi@iupui.edu
END:VEVENT
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