Dismantling Carceral Logics Through Indigenous Imaginaries

These are slides from a workshop I conduct on Indigenous Futurisms with regards to examining justice. The slides are text heavy because the deck reflects presenting to people with disabilities, which include hearing impairments. The presentation includes more information and reflection than just what is written but the slides capture the main focus.

At the end, there is an activity based on using futurist imaginary to devise a system where we dismantle carceral and policing logics. The presentation and activity are meant to push participants beyond debating abolition and instead instigates discussion on embodying practice.

To create a better world, we need to imagine the possibilities first.

The discussion after the presentation involved talking about AI and the harms implicit in the technology. It broadened to examining how most modern information technologies are created through colonial praxis and can only reflect colonial praxis in their very existence.

The example was that Silicon Valley sexist, racist, ableist, ageist, misogynist, homophobic, transphobic, capitalist ideologies are at the very foundation of AI and so the technology reflects this. Technology is only ever as good as its creators.

We then discussed how an AI could look if it was land based, decolonized and indigenized, reflecting abolition and relational logics.

This presentation sparked the creation of Dismantling Carceral Logics RPG and Dismantling Carceral Logics Card Decks.