Who can dream? A review of Imagination: A Manifesto by Ruha Benjamin
Imagination: A Manifesto by Ruha Benjamin is published by Norton (2024)
This book is a celebration of the potential and cultivation of human imagination. However, the beautiful promise comes with the warning that we have created limited access to imagination. Benjamin states that the power to dream up utopian visions is being monopolised by tech billionaires. The author deftly weaves strong strands of social justice with ideas of collective imagination to illustrate the juncture of possibility between futures tainted by ‘old stories’ of domination, and liberating, inclusive futures. In doing so, the author sharpens our critical reading on a topic that could get reduced to fluffy feel-good dreams. For those in the field of education, it is a book that will open your eyes to the prospects and risks of what could be.
Human history demonstrates that the quest for utopian visions can result in the misery of the means justifying the ends. Benjamin, a professor of African American studies, alerts readers to the dangers of the eugenics-infused hierarchical ideology of longtermism. This is the idea that future people are more important than those people currently alive. Longtermism also downplays climate change as an existential threat. Longtermists think that technology will solve it for the people who matter. So if longtermists believe that future generations are more important than living people now, what risks are they willing they take, using what metrics, and what harms could they do?
The visions of “the self-appointed stewards of humanity”, that is the Silicon Valley technocrats, are based on massive capital acquisition, resource (and thus power) possession for a select few at the expense of those suffering under oppressive structures on the margins of societies. This makes the tech future visions not so new at all. A eugenics imagination, encouraging some traits and restricting others, is the foundation of white supremacy, patriarchy, ableism and classism that still shape social structures. Imagination, cautions the author, “is not a wholesale ‘good’”.
Benjamin, encourages us to draw on the ethical transformative imaginations of Black Liberation and Indigenous wisdom, of human cooperation and justice-informed creativity. Toni Morrison’s sage advice to “dream a little before you think” is encouraged through inspiring examples of connection and healing, and using technology for good. Chapter six of the book, “Imagination Incubator” is dedicated to valuable practical exercises for developing our imaginations and considering potential futures. These prompts, activities and ideas are underpinned by criticality and reflexivity and could be used in various educational contexts.
As we find ourselves at a turning point in a complex web of global problems, educating for imagination is vital for sustainability, peace and justice. In digital societies, and as lives are dominated by technology and data, there is an imperative to imagine and build inclusive, equitable structures now and in the future. Benjamin asserts that prioritising future generations over Earth’s current population is a flawed approach that plays into the money-making dreams of tech entrepreneurs. If we can strengthen our individual imaginative skills and connect with others, our collective imaginations could flourish and grow.