Source-linked AI summary
What If AI Carried Her Imagination? Black Girls as Creators in an AI Storytelling Weekend Program
Chun Li, Lauren Brown, Hubert Asare, Shawna Patterson, Dennis Henderson, Ericka Roland, tara Nkrumah, Angela E. B. Stewart
TL;DR
The paper examines how Afrofuturism can inform AI-enabled storytelling practices with Black girls. A seven-weekend case-study program found that participants created identity-rooted Afrofuturist narratives while developing foundational AI literacies.
Problem
The study asks how Afrofuturism can inform AI-enabled storytelling practices that engage Black girls in technology and AI literacy.
Method
A seven-weekend case study combined Afrofuturist and Black feminist framing with scaffolded AI storytelling activities and analysis of learners’ artifacts.
Results
Participants created collaborative Afrofuturist narratives centered on Black girls’ identities and experiences while developing prompting, bias critique, and data-privacy awareness.
Takeaways & Limitations
Afrofuturist AI storytelling can support Black girls’ agency, creativity, identity expression, and critical engagement with technology in informal learning spaces.
Takeaways & Limitations
Technical delays and some learners’ limited typing or device familiarity created interruptions and uncertainty, indicating a need for more scaffolded technical support.
Abstract
from arXiv · showhide
This paper presents the design and outcomes of a seven-weekend AI storytelling program developed for Black girls aged 10-12. Grounded in Afrofuturism and Black feminist thought, the program adopted AI-enabled counter-storytelling, supported the development of foundational AI literacies, and fostered future-oriented imagination. Activities included brainstorming AI-related topics, developing character and story plots, and delivering collaborative group presentations. Drawing on the analysis of learners' artifacts from the case study, findings show that participants created Afrofuturist narratives rooted in their identities and everyday experiences. At the same time, they developed core AI literacies, including prompt engineering, bias critique, and awareness of data privacy. This program demonstrates that integrating Afrofuturist storytelling with generative AI in informal learning spaces can be a powerful approach for engaging Black girls in computer science education.