How can the work of prominent Black feminist speculative fiction author Octavia E. Butler enrich teaching practices aimed at fostering collective and emancipatory forms of future-making in Political and Urban Geography? Focusing on Butler’s Parables duology, a significant example of climate fiction, a short paper by Anke Schwarz and Frank I. Müller explores how fictional narratives of home-making can shape our understanding of the present and encourage reflection on methods of envisioning the future. We argue that Butler’s approach, which combines logical extrapolation with creative speculation, can cultivate transformative practices. This dual and intertwined methodology supports a critical engagement with plausible futures and spatial imaginaries, making it a valuable component of geographical curricula.
Published open access in The Geographical Journal: Müller F.I. and Schwarz, A. (2026): Between Extrapolation and Speculation: Reading Octavia E. Butler in the Geography Classroom. https://doi.org/10.1111/geoj.70067