Society of Scholars
The Society of Scholars is an intellectual community of humanists of diverse generations, academic ranks, and departmental affiliations who contribute to and learn from one another’s work. Each year, approximately eight faculty and three dissertation research fellowships support members of the Society of Scholars. Scholars in year-long residence at the University of Washington may be invited to participate as well. The group meets biweekly throughout the year to discuss their research in progress.
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2026 - 2027 Society of Scholars
2023 - 2024 Society of Scholars Fellow
James Pierce (he/him/his)
Design Speculations: The Real Uses of Unrealized Things
In design studies, the drawings, models, and prototypes that designers make are typically understood as representational plans and in-progress forms. These “as-yet unrealized” things are grasped as instrumental tools for the progressional development and production of so-called real, working technologies. Extending recent writings on speculative design, this book shifts focus onto the multiplicity of ways that unrealized designs offer real and compelling uses because, not in spite of their failure to fully actualize.