Interest in futures thinking is growing across the social sciences, government agencies, and industry. Yet, older adults and gerontologists have often been overlooked or have not actively engaged with this area in their research, policy development, or practice. This oversight is significant, as policymakers, technology designers, and corporate entities are actively shaping specific visions of ageing and what it means to age well. Ageing, however, is a deeply personal and emotional journey, rooted in individual life stories, as well as the cultural and communal contexts people inhabit.
Rather than conforming to externally imposed ideals of ageing “successfully” or “healthily,” individuals should be empowered to define their own sense of purpose and meaning as they approach and experience later life. Anthropology—particularly its creative and visual fields of inquiry—is uniquely positioned to explore alternative perspectives on ageing. While ethnographic work often captures the present-day experiences of middle-aged and older individuals, creative methods such as speculative storytelling and illustration offer powerful tools for imagining different possibilities for ageing, in collaboration with the communities of our interlocutors.
This workshop will introduce one approach to collaborative storytelling using an online version of The Thing from the Future. Attendees will work collaboratively in groups to explore how people would adapt to societal transformations in near or distant future scenarios of their own creation. Facilitated reflection will be used to probe dystopic and utopic characteristics of the stories, and what these tell us about our own aspirations for ageing, and how we might age ‘otherwise’.
To join, click this link on the event day:
