Exploring Indigenous Futurism and Challenging Western Systems

This is the 4th installment in Strange New Work, a special series from What Works that explores how speculative fiction can help us imagine new ways of working.

Social and professional norms aren't natural or innate. They're political. Those in power exert their preferences on those who aren't, and throughout history, have exerted social, cultural, and physical violence to either force subjugated people to assimilate or drive them out of society altogether.

Speculative fiction is rife with tales of imperial conquest and colonization. And it's helpful for identifying the kinds of control and domination that we deal with daily, even though many of us never notice it. Speculative fiction can help us see harm for what it is, recognize the damage done by colonizers, and imagine forms of resistance. 

In today's episode, I dive into the harms of imperialism, how supremacy culture forms the basis of professionalism, how Indigenous futurism gives us a way to "imagine otherwise," and what coach and author Charlie Gilkey recommends for creating a culture of belonging at work through team habits.

Footnotes:

• "Remote work gave them a reprieve. They don't want to go back" by Samantha Masunaga for LA Times
• The Imperial Radch Trilogy by Ann Leckie
• Ann Leckie on Geek's Guide to the Galaxy
• "Unsettled" in Buffalo is the New Buffalo by Chelsea Vowel
• "Indigenous futurism" on WeRNative.org
• "From growing medicine to space rockets: What is Indigenous futurism?" on CBC's Unreserved, featuring guest Grace Dillon
• Walking the Clouds: An Anthology of Indigenous Science Fiction edited by Grace Dillon
• "White Supremacy Culture" by Tema Okun
• Team Habits by Charlie Gilkey
• The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers
• Solarpunk Magazine

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