TY - JOUR
T1 - Covid-19 and the Politics of Hope
T2 - A Comparative Analysis of Greek and Ecuadorian Letters from a Desired Post-Pandemic Future
AU - Gross, Jonathan
AU - Davids, Tine
AU - Sools, Anneke
AU - Saghai, Yashar
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors would like to thank Anna-Lea van Ooijen for her contribution to the development of the paper.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 The Authors
PY - 2023/5
Y1 - 2023/5
N2 - Covid-19 forced changes in everyday life upon large sections of the world’s population, with lockdowns and social distancing measures effecting conditions of work and leisure for billions of people. In this context our research created a space in which people living in countries in Europe, North and South America, Asia, and Africa were invited to imagine what the future could look like – beyond the pandemic – by writing a Letter from the Future. In this paper we examine what these letters show about one particular relationship between the present and the future: a relationship of hope. In the context of major crises, and the complex experiences of loss they involve, the nature of and possibilities for hope becomes an urgent issue. We analyse a selection of responses from participants between 18 and 35 years-old, from Ecuador and Greece, to address two questions: (1) Do these letters express hope? (2) If so, in what ways is this hope political? Our answers to these questions have implications for understanding the nature, possibilities and politics of hope at times of crisis. They also have implications for futures studies: indicating the potential value of embedding the Letters from the Future method in a range of research contexts.
AB - Covid-19 forced changes in everyday life upon large sections of the world’s population, with lockdowns and social distancing measures effecting conditions of work and leisure for billions of people. In this context our research created a space in which people living in countries in Europe, North and South America, Asia, and Africa were invited to imagine what the future could look like – beyond the pandemic – by writing a Letter from the Future. In this paper we examine what these letters show about one particular relationship between the present and the future: a relationship of hope. In the context of major crises, and the complex experiences of loss they involve, the nature of and possibilities for hope becomes an urgent issue. We analyse a selection of responses from participants between 18 and 35 years-old, from Ecuador and Greece, to address two questions: (1) Do these letters express hope? (2) If so, in what ways is this hope political? Our answers to these questions have implications for understanding the nature, possibilities and politics of hope at times of crisis. They also have implications for futures studies: indicating the potential value of embedding the Letters from the Future method in a range of research contexts.
U2 - 10.1016/j.futures.2023.103115
DO - 10.1016/j.futures.2023.103115
M3 - Article
SN - 0016-3287
VL - 149
JO - Futures
JF - Futures
M1 - 103115
ER -
