“Perfectly You”: Visual Thinking and Decolonization in the Canadian Speculative Fiction Classroom

This article brings visual thinking into the speculative fiction classroom, drawing on critical autism studies and on work on Indigenous futurism. It is the collaborative work of a neurotypical academic and an artist on the autism spectrum. Using one Canadian short story by a member of the Norway House Cree Nation, David A. Robertson, as a sample primary source, the project offers strategies for developing a multimodal classroom through assigning visual close readings as forms of literary criticism and critical thinking. This project aims to show the value of thinking in pictures as a respectful tool for both decolonization work in the classroom and for the encouragement of student creative work. Focused on a lesbian love story, the project presents critical love in the academy as queer and creative.