possibility studies

The concept of possibility has long been intertwined with the discourse of curiosity. The way things might be can disturb the way things are, but we have to be ready for it. Curiosity provides that readiness.

The possible emerges in human experience whenever there is a multitude of perspectives available for individual, groups and societies to draw upon in understanding themselves and their environment.

By foregrounding hope, imagination, agency and creativity, we can get to fully appreciate what it means to be human in a world that oftentimes resists our needs, expectations, and aspirations.

The impossible we can imagine also serves as a mirror, confronting ourselves with our responses to the wide range of (im)possible scenarios. Why do we assume they are impossible to begin with? What is it about these boundaries that might make us feel uncomfortable? Can we see beyond that and expand our imagination even more?

Consequently, when we think about possibilities it’s not as much about what we do in the present that shapes the future, but more about how we use the future to shape the present (Damhof, 2022).

Experiences of the possible depend on more than individuals; they require a wide ecosystem that includes human and non-human actors and their entanglement. Humans don’t always occupy a central position in this system as objects and material spaces can guide the discovery of new possibilities (e.g., new affordances) and enable their enactment.

History can get stuck and can go into reverse. Powerful interests will do whatever they can to resist, divert, confuse or disrupt trends that they find threatening. Imagination is one of the weapons with which to confront them—imagination that is compelling, rigorous and thought through.

All my experience tells me that such a level of fatalism isn’t realistic; we can, up to a point, design and choose the society we wish to live in. Besides, there have been few moments in history when we have needed creativity more—to work out how to get to net zero carbon emissions and avert climate change; how to cope with ageing populations; how

In order for the oppressed to be able to wage the struggle for their liberation, they must perceive the reality of oppression not as a closed world from which there is no exit, but as a limiting situation which they can transform. —Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed1