# Race, Religion, and Science Fiction: Co-Created Learning, unEssays, and the Power of Film #70

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/sweet-and-condensed-6576385/race-religion-and-science-fiction-co-created-learning-unessays-and-the-power-of-film-70
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/sweet-and-condensed-6576385/race-religion-and-science-fiction-co-created-learning-unessays-and-the-power-of-film-70.md
Podcast: [Sweet and Condensed](https://stenobird.com/podcast/sweet-and-condensed-6576385)
Published: 2026-03-09T16:29:02+00:00
Episode link: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/sweetandcondensed/episodes/Race--Religion--and-Science-Fiction-Co-Created-Learning--unEssays--and-the-Power-of-Film-70-e3g555c
Audio file: https://anchor.fm/s/e76fea04/podcast/play/116609644/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2026-2-9%2F419623021-44100-2-5fe6ffabd62e7.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/sweet-and-condensed-6576385/episodes/race-religion-and-science-fiction-co-created-learning-unessays-and-the-power-of-film-70
Duration seconds: 3583

## Resource

Josh interviews Patrick D’Silva, PhD, about his graduate special-topics course “Race, Religion, and Science Fiction,” developed from an upper-level “Religion and Science Fiction” class and expanded to foreground race alongside gender, sexuality, and disability through units on Lord of the Rings, Star Wars/Star Trek , Indigenous Futurism, Afrofuturism/Africanfuturism, cyberpunk (including Neuromancer ), monsters ( Frankenstein ), and Jediism as a fiction-based religious movement. Patrick describes a student-autonomy model where students help shape the syllabus, choose evaluation methods, and can submit response papers as podcasts and final “unEssays” as creative projects (e.g., illustrated journals, roleplaying games, cookbooks, audio tracks, paintings), including course examples like a Wakanda zine and Parable of the Sower -inspired journaling. He connects this pedagogy to flexibility and compassion shaped by his teaching, parenting a child with special needs, and the pandemic, and explains using film/TV because students are increasingly oriented to visual media, which also supports immersion, participation, and representation. Patrick’s Substack/podcast project “ Worlds Beyond Worlds ” is now live, where he will publish interviews with students about their projects. Website: https://worldbeyondworlds.substack.com/ Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2duGUU6qmoJXH97FjFzzpH?si=0c93503209054dab Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/worlds-beyond-worlds/id1883192717 02:29 Course Origins 06:39 Student Led Syllabus 08:22 Creative unEssays 17:37 Holistic Learning 26:24 Why Film And TV 33:19 Teaching Without Ego 41:36 Representation On Screen 49:56 Improvising In The Classroom 55:34 Orientation And Meaning 56:30 Wrap Up And Plugs

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