To read this content please select one of the options below:

The future as a public good: decolonising the future through anticipatory participatory action research

Robin Bourgeois (ART-DEV, University of Montpellier, CNRS, Univ Paul Valéry Montpellier 3, Univ Perpignan Via Domitia, CIRAD, Montpellier, France and Centre de Recherches Agricoles, ISRA, Saint-Louis, Sénégal)
Geci Karuri-Sebina (SA Node of the Millennium Project, Johannesburg, South Africa and School of Governance, Wits University, Johannesburg, South Africa)
Kwamou Eva Feukeu (Faculty of Law, Lancaster University, Lancaster, UK and Department of Social and Human Sciences, Futures Literacy, UNESCO Paris, Paris, France)

Foresight

ISSN: 1463-6689

Article publication date: 1 August 2022

708

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to nurture reflections on the colonization of the future in the present with a particular focus on Africa. This paper aims at exploring how participatory research and particularly anticipatory action research can contribute to a decolonising process.

Design/methodology/approach

Considering the future as a public good, this paper develops a reflection on the colonization processes that can turn it into a club or a private good. This paper mobilizes the notions of participatory knowledge production and local action research as a way to decolonize the future and empower imagination. This paper revisits the tenets of participatory action research as a means to achieve this objective and discusses the main features of a non-colonial anticipatory action research in the context of African futures.

Findings

This paper highlights the challenges associated with connecting anticipatory endeavours focusing on action research, the creation of collective intelligence and co-design, with the intention of encouraging the decolonisation process. It includes design principles and anticipates a possible process of counter-decolonization.

Research limitations/implications

This is a conceptual paper, which does not provide field-tested evidence. Yet, the authors hope it serves as an input enabling to design methodologies that will prevent the colonisation of the future when engaging in future-oriented research activities in Africa and elsewhere.

Originality/value

This paper provides an integral approach to the colonisation of the future, as a renewed old question. This paper also connects this process with a reflection on the nature of what could be non-colonizing anticipatory action research.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

This article is based upon a research project and longer review paper that was published with the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) in April 2021 as part of the Capacity to Decolonise (C2D) project. The research paper can be found here: http://hdl.handle.net/10625/60080

Citation

Bourgeois, R., Karuri-Sebina, G. and Feukeu, K.E. (2022), "The future as a public good: decolonising the future through anticipatory participatory action research", Foresight, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/FS-11-2021-0225

Publisher

:

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2022, Emerald Publishing Limited

Related articles