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Imagining Tomorrow.

Writer's picture: Annaflavia TarulloAnnaflavia Tarullo

Updated: Nov 8, 2024

The future: time's excuse

to frighten us; too vast

a project, too large a morsel

for the heart's mouth.


Future, who won't wait for you?

Everyone is going there.

It suffices you to deepen

the absence that we are.


"The Future" by Rainer Maria Rilke. Translated by A. Poulin.


Cylinder Interior. Artwork by Rick Guidice, 1975.


Foreword

Thinking about the future is something we all do naturally. From our earliest years to the very end of our lives. As humans, we ponder the future for various reasons. Over different timeframes. And influenced by specific emotions.


What we may not always realise is that, as a society, we collectively share visions of the future that go beyond our individual thoughts. These shared visions evolve through our interactions and shape our common understanding of life and order, bringing us closer together than we might expect.


Personally, I spend a lot of time contemplating the future. When I was younger, I imagined an optimistic, idealistic vision of a better world, where humanity consistently makes the right choices to improve our circumstances and become kinder to nature.


However, as I learned more about issues linked to the climate crisis and the challenges of collective action, my vision of the future grew somber. When I first depicted my idea of the future in a University-course called ‘Imagining the Future for Transformation’, I drew a dystopian scene: a deserted hut in the foreground, towering skyscrapers emitting smoke in the background, all under a dark cloud of pollution. At the top of the drawing was a poem I wrote when I was around 15 years old:


“Enclosed in the necessity of fulfilling our needs,

slowly disintegrating the natural silhouette of the world,

without wiping the tarnish that masks the fearful reality awaiting.”


As I matured, I started seeing the world differently. In neither an idealistic nor pessimistic light. What fuelled this change was shifting from trying to predict a realistic future to creating the future I wanted to see. 


This short piece is divided into three chapters. Chapter I explores the concepts of "futures literacy" and discusses four techniques for thinking about collective futures. Chapter II focuses on 'reflexivity', a crucial attribute for preventing the perpetuation of injustices when shaping those futures. Finally, Chapter III outlines 4 roles we can adopt to become powerful, yet reflexive agents of change.



Chapter I: Futures Literacy 1.0


Torus Construction. Artwork by Don Davis, 1976.


Futures literacy 1.0 (noun)

Being able to imagine different futures and using those futures to help us better understand the present (based on Miller, 2018).


Futuring (verb)

Creating and sharing ideas about possible futures to help shape what actions we can take today (based on Oomen et al., 2021). It’s about bringing people together to focus on these imagined futures and helping them decide how to act based on that vision (based on Mangnus et al., 2021).


 

Yes, “futures literacy” is a real thing! It refers to the ability to think about the future and actively engage with it in different ways. Being futures literate means we can use our understanding of future possibilities to think and plan more strategically. To explore and use these futures, we need specific Futuring techniques, each serving a different purpose:


  • Predictive futures approach - The first technique looks at the likelihood of different futures by examining trends from the past. This means creating possible future scenarios and estimating how likely each one is to happen.


  • Plausible futures approach - The second technique highlights the uncertainty of the future; instead of predicting only one future, it considers many possibilities. In doing so, it applies systems thinking to understand the multitude of drivers behind each possible future. 


  • Experimental futures approach - The third technique is more daring. It involves imagining many different futures that can inspire and mobilise people today. This approach encourages us to dream big and work together to create the future we want by bridging existing desirable realities with what the future could be. 


  • Critical futures approach - The last technique is a bit different. Instead of focusing on creating new futures, it asks us to think about why certain social imaginaries are so dominant. It involves exploring the history of these ideas to understand the hidden assumptions, power structures, and social influences behind them.


While all of these approaches are important for successfully enacting the future, some of them can lead to greater societal change than others. Predicting future trends based on past patterns is crucial, but can limit our imagination and overlook the potential for radical ruptures and cultural shifts. This approach risks maintaining the status quo and disregarding emerging movements that are already paving alternative paths to a better future.


Critical futures, on the other hand, are key for preventing the reproduction of inequalities, injustices, and exclusions by challenging commonly accepted futures. This involves critically examining our ideas, beliefs, and values—a challenging yet necessary task. Dissecting visions of the future requires a certain degree of reflexivity, an attribute that we will explore in Chapter II.


Given the urgency of the current social-ecological crisis, I believe that experimental approaches should be central to sustainability transitions. These approaches show that utopian futures are already within reach. By doing so, they engender new spaces for creation and innovation by actively embodying the desired change. In essence, they unite people to devise realistic pathways towards these desirable futures.


These newly envisioned pathways can fracture existing narratives and showcase radical alternatives.

For instance, the Zapatista movement, which began in Chiapas, Mexico in the early 1980s, exemplifies this concept through the embodiment of collective resistance, grassroots education, agro-ecological sovereignty, and horizontal governance. 


Chapter II: Futures Literacy 2.0


Unknown artwork by Jessica Lofton.


Futures literacy 2.0 (noun)

The capacity to reflect on how futures imagined differently also lead to different outcomes and actions (based on Mangnus et al., 2021).


Reflexivity (noun)

A critical awareness of different attitudes toward the future, including what can be known about it, how it affects the present, how to study and measure it, and how to create pathways for action (based on Mangnus et al., 2021).


 

Our vision of the future is shaped by specific assumptions about what the future should look like and why. This means that when we imagine our futures, we include certain social groups and lifestyles. But we also exclude others.


Every imagined future has power. For centuries, “The West” has promoted a particular vision: industrialised European nations striving toward continuous development and modernisation.


The result?


A capitalist society marked by skyrocketing rates of production, consumption, waste, and pollution.


During European expansion at the end of the Middle Ages, explorers claimed to have discovered “new worlds”, untouched by their vision of a modern civilisation. Throughout this period,  European settlers colonised these “underdeveloped” worlds, imposing capitalist systems upon them.


The pursuit of this vision of conquest and modernisation gave rise to a process known as 'othering', in which racialisation and stereotyping created the narrative of “the West and the Rest”. In this narrative, “the Rest” referred to the apparently “savage” nations that were expected to aspire to the West’s ideals. This division fuelled centuries of oppression, imperialism, and colonisation, which silenced the futures imagined by “the Rest”. 


This history teaches us a crucial lesson: imagining futures and using them strategically requires reflexivity to avoid reinforcing inequalities and dominant worldviews.


Without reflexivity, we risk neglecting and silencing other knowledges and experiences by propagating Eurocentric ideals.

In practice, reflexivity involves turning inward, to oneself, and critically assess the impact of our imagination on the world - an introspective voyage. Whenever you envision the future, ask yourself: who is included, and who is left out? Why? What lifestyles or values are present, and which are missing? Why? Are there winners and are there losers?


Reflexivity therefore helps us:


  • Recognise the limitations of conventional models and projections, and understand how predictive Futuring approaches can unintentionally reinforce inequalities.

  • Make collective imaginaries of the future more inclusive, participatory, and fair.

  • Foster personal normative growth by encouraging critical reflection on our values and assumptions.

  • Navigate diverse Futuring approaches and find balanced ways to integrate them.


Chapter III: Agents of Change


Our Grandmothers Carry Water from the Other World. Artwork by Elizabeth La Pensée, 2016.


So far, I've talked about the importance of futures literacy and explored how tensions can arise in Futuring if reflexivity is missing. But what comes next?


Since this piece is meant not just to inform but to inspire, this final chapter will focus on how you can become a powerful agent of change.


By tapping into your own potential, you can choose to be one of 4 agents of change described below (based on Chambers et al., 2021). Remember, as you grow and experience life in all its forms, you may embody different types of agency, helping create change in your own unique way.


Woodpecker

The Woodpecker challenges dominant solutions by pointing out their flaws. Like a woodpecker persistently pecking at a tree, they seek to reshape ideas until they work better for everyone.


Hero

The Hero leads the way by navigating conflicting agendas to transform interlinked paradigms, practices, and structures and cultivate mutual understandings.


Genie

The Genie uses their skills and knowledge to help elevate marginalised agendas, upraising and broadening struggles of justice.


Host

The Host creates safe, open spaces for people to share their diverse perspectives and experiences through reflection, learning, and the nurturing of mutual respect.


Cylinder Endcap. Artwork by Don Davis, 1975.


 

References


Chambers, J. et al (2021). Co-productive agility and four collaborative pathways to sustainability transformations. Global Environmental Change, 72, 102422. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2021.102422


Hall, S.A. (1992). The West and the Rest: Discourse and Power.


Hollender, R. (2018). Anti, alternative, and post: A review of Post-Growth approaches to radical transformation in the Global South. American Review of Political Economy, 12(1). https://doi.org/10.38024/arpe.147


Mangnus, A. C., Oomen, J., Vervoort, J. M., & Hajer, M. A. (2021). Futures literacy and the diversity of the future. Futures, 132, 102793. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.futures.2021.102793


Monticelli, L. (2018). Embodying Alternatives to Capitalism in the 21st Century. tripleC: Communication, Capitalism & Critique. Open Access Journal for a Global Sustainable Information Society, 16(2), 501–517. https://doi.org/10.31269/triplec.v16i2.1032


Muiderman, K., Gupta, A., Vervoort, J., & Biermann, F. (2020). Four approaches to anticipatory climate governance: Different conceptions of the future and implications for the present. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews Climate Change, 11(6). https://doi.org/10.1002/wcc.673


Oomen, J., Hoffman, J., & Hajer, M. A. (2021). Techniques of futuring: On how imagined futures become socially performative. European Journal of Social Theory, 25(2), 252–270. https://doi.org/10.1177/1368431020988826


Thomas-Olalde, O., & Velho, A. (2011). Othering and its effects–Exploring the concept. Writing postcolonial histories of intercultural education, 2, 27-51.

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