Disarticulating the inevitability of catastrophe: Narrative, responsibility, and possible futures between Science Education and Literary Criticism

Abstract

The overwhelming perception that climate catastrophe is inevitable leads to disorientation and a widespread sense of powerlessness, in which responsibility is lost amidst the multitude of possibilities.
This contribution proposes an interdisciplinary reflection at the intersection of science education and literary criticism to deconstruct the idea of catastrophe as a singular, inevitable event. The intertwining of these fields allows, on the one hand, the enrichment of science education with critical and pluralistic tools; on the other, a reinterpretation of eco-dystopias as laboratories of imagination. Drawing on the conceptual framing of the storyline approach, developed in climatology to analyse extreme events, we propose a perspective that allows us to interpret catastrophes and disasters as complex, historically and socially situated processes, thereby dismantling the perception of inevitability and paving the way for the reconstruction of open, interconnected, non-deterministic futures.