Text: This proposal picks up on James Dator’s “Weirding the Queer” as
final chapter in his book ‘Beyond Identities’. For him, breaking down
dichotomies seems foundational when exploring the liminalities in trans,
weird and queer ways of researching the future, “queering everything”:
- Trans: for the 2022 Anticipation Conference, Cynthia Selin reiterated her
argument for transdisciplinary, trans-sectoral, transtemporal,
transformative, transgressive and transformational field-building efforts with
permeable boundaries and adaptive and inclusive mindsets.
- Weird: preposterous and postnormal futures exploring weird worlds to
come –James Dator, Ziauddin Sardar or Johns Sweeney have encouraged
futurists to work on the unthinkable “where facts are uncertain, values in
dispute, stakes high and decisions urgent” (Funtowicz & Ravetz, 1993).
- Queer: Jane Fleener (2022) introduces queer futuring as a way of critical
futures research “to decolonize, delegitimize and disrupt hegemonic and
categorical thinking and social structures”.
This proposal explores what kind of futures studies can result from these
considerations: What are trans, weird and queer ways of knowing? Which
types of futures knowledge(s) do they produce? Which methods are
suitable for this? Which temporalities can inform their practice? Which
types of futurists are capable of this work? Where can they be found? What
are their cultural backgrounds? How may they transform the field? How are
their identities contested within the present futures community? How can
the field include them in the future?