The future as a cultural commons: Grammars of commonality in crisis-ridden Wilhelmsburg

Jornal paper
This article is an invitation to think about the future as a cultural commons. Cultural commons – languages, canons, traditions – are collectively produced yet inherently vulnerable to enclosure. Similarly, the future constitutes a collectively produced dimension of time, albeit one which must continually be protected from institutional capture. Taking the organization of Zukunft Elbinsel Wilhelmsburg in Hamburg as a central case, the paper analyses how local activists turn the future into a matter of common concern. Thévenot’s so-called ‘pragmatic sociology’ underpins the analysis and allows a detection of three ways of turning the future into a commons: through acts of justification, through radical planning, and through effervescent moments of affect.

Podcast
In this interview, Louis Volont proposes thinking about the future as a cultural commons. Cultural commons – languages, canons, traditions – are collectively produced yet inherently vulnerable to enclosure. Similarly, the future constitutes a collectively produced dimension of time, albeit one which must continually be protected from institutional capture. Taking the organization of Zukunft Elbinsel Wilhelmsburg in Hamburg as a central case, Volont analyses how local activists turn the future into a matter of common concern. Thévenot’s so-called ‘pragmatic sociology’ underpins the analysis and allows a detection of three ways of turning the future into a commons: through acts of justification, through radical planning, and through effervescent moments of affect.

More information
https://www.cogitatiopress.com/socialinclusion/article/view/8424
https://www.cogitatiopress.com/wp/lta/seizing-the-future-as-a-cultural-commons