Future Visions, Strategies, and Contentious Politics. Part I

Windows of opportunity for change during moments of crisis tend to open only briefly. Calls for transformation abounded when Covid-19 emerged but gave way soon to desires for a ‘return to normalcy.’ Similar cycles follow ‘natural’ disasters that are shaped in their devastation by prior institutional design. This session seeks a better understanding of the dynamics of social imagination and creative efforts to overcome the status quo. It aims to bring into dialogue empirical and theoretical engagements with questions such as: Why does the horizon of imaginable futures expand or shrink at certain times and places? Why do activists cease or miss the critical moments of disruptive events? What roles do assumptions about the future play in battles over hegemony, and how are these assumptions being shaped? How do social movements construct long-term visions, strategies, and the solidarities that nourish these? How do progressive agendas counter retrotopian politics, authoritarian leadership, and neoliberal subjectivities?