making sense and meaning
introduction¶
Even though we live in the age of information and polyphony, few voices are being heard; few stories are being created. This story is about the discovery and creation of fictional narratives, not only as an escape from reality, but also as a way of embracing the post-truth era in which we live.. According to Benedict Anderson, every nation in the world is “an imagined political community. each of our countries “is imagined because the members of even the smallest nation will never know most of their fellow-members, meet them, or even hear of them, yet in the minds of each lives the image of their communion”. Nations are ideas that exist solely in our minds. Ideas we love, ideas that matter, ideas that change and hold up the world. Therefore, it is important to democratise the narrative by pointing out that we are all active agents who can question narratives and imagine alternatives. And to get to the point of open imagination or any altered state of mind, a prior process is necessary; the transition process. The process of transitioning will be interpretively analysed in three different phases and some methodologies of application will be proposed.
our non-reality¶
“With politics going mad, the planet heating up, technology booming, and intolerance rising, it is essential that we don’t forget that reality is just a construction: one we can reimagine, refashion, propose and eventually change.”@Vincenzo Angileri
According to scholars from social sciences and anthropology, as citizens of (western) modern societies, we learned to give value and importance to certain things and ignore most of what going on elsewhere – everything that is not included in the systems we know is unimaginable to us: “only a very small set of things could possibly count as ‘the future’ and everything else was being blocked out, even though it was going on all around” (Tsing, 2021). By attuning ourselves anew to the worlds we find ourselves in through storytelling, we can integrate all kinds of learnings and technologies that help to emphasise with our surroundings (Tsing, 2021). This means that we don’t necessarily come up with new inventions and ideas, but the new kind of attention we pay to our environment through telling different stories allows us to open our eyes to things we thought were unremarkable and to reshape systems we thought were established. Here “…writing becomes the way of posing the question of how to live […] a space that generates stories through which a society can examine itself” (Tsing et al., 2017, p. 171).
more-than-me¶
Individual perspective is precious yet really dangerous. It is the beginning of our understanding, the catalyst ingredient of our creations. But to move in more dimensions of being, enable communications, interactions and continuations, a single story is not enough. Projecting one’s own experience onto other people, species and entities might lead to a manifestation of justices and injustices, allies and enemies, good and evil. By imagining the future collectively we cannot get completely rid of our blinkers (horse blinders), but combining multiple blinkered visions can create panoramic views.
transition process¶
The process of transitioning can be interpreted into a pattern of three sequential phases that are always repeated in various situations and levels, depending on how dramatic the change is; from a small lifestyle change in our daily routine, to the loss of a loved person, to environmental changes in our surroundings.
The first phase of transitioning is the ‘unfamiliarise’. This is the process of letting go of the norms and values we are attached to. It involves questioning our beliefs and letting go of the old patterns that no longer serve us. This phase can be difficult and often comes with a sense of uncertainty and discomfort. However, it is essential to acknowledge that letting go of the old is necessary for growth and transformation.
The second phase of transitioning is ‘grief’. This phase involves the inevitable distress and suffering from the loss of the familiar. We may experience sadness, fear, and uncertainty during this phase as we confront the reality of what we have lost. However, it is essential to acknowledge that grief is a necessary part of the process of transitioning. It is a natural response to change, and it allows us to process our emotions and come to terms with the new reality.
The third phase of transitioning is ‘rebirth’. In this last part we are now liberated by the past, and new entities start to grow. It is a time of new beginnings, where we can embrace the change and move forward with a renewed sense of purpose and direction. This phase can be exhilarating and empowering as we discover new opportunities and possibilities that we could not have imagined before.
Transitioning from one phase of life to another is for sure one of the greatest challenges. etting into deeper understanding of the processes that take place - unfamiliarising, grief, and rebirth - can help navigate the process of change. Each phase is necessary for growth and transformation, and only by embracing the process of transitioning, we can allow now qualities emerge and move forward to whatever is coming next.
utopias, eutopias and dystopias¶
Fiction is a powerful tool that allows us to envision different possibilities for the future. It seems interesting to analyse the types of imagination that can be used as speculative tools and the roles that each one play.
Utopia - the desirable and impossible
usually is about an ideal society where everything is perfect. This type of imagination is often used to inspire individuals to work towards a better future. By imagining what could be possible, individuals are motivated to strive for a better world. However, it is important to remember that utopias are not without their flaws. They can be overly idealistic and may not be feasible in reality.
Dystopia - the undesirable and possible
Dystopian thinking involves envisioning a future where everything has gone wrong and is often used to warn individuals of the potential dangers of certain actions or policies. By imagining the worst-case scenario, people can take steps to prevent it from happening. However, it is important to balance dystopian thinking with the above ‘positive’ forms of imagination. Overly pessimistic thinking can lead to a sense of hopelessness and may discourage individuals from taking action.
Eutopia - the desirable and possible
Eutopia describes a better society that is achievable with the right resources and efforts. This type is grounded in reality and takes into account the limitations and challenges of the present. Eutopias can serve as a blueprint for the future and can help guide decision-making.
Each type of imagination offers a unique perspective on the future and can be used to explore and eventually create balance in the realities we live in. Utopias inspire us to strive for a better future, eutopias offer practical solutions to current challenges, and dystopias cultivate the sense of danger and fear.
the fear of the unknown¶
Taking into account the above categories, we can now illustrate the connection between the transition phases and how we direct our imagination; The unfamiliarising process can trigger the fear of the unknown, which is tightly connected to the fear of death and non-existence. Taking ‘nature’ as an example, if we acknowledge nature as life that has temporary phases which at some point will be transformed into something else, we might then be able to have a different, more liberated relationship with our surroundings. Through speculative fiction we can and maybe must (re-)imagine morality and temporality in an uncanny ecosystem. Showing the, the catastrophes of our times (‘dystopias’) in which we are bodily involved in as playful stories, where light and colours can emerge (‘utopias’), eventually will enable re-understanding these moralities and temporalities anew(‘eutopias’). Speculative fiction allows for a “…sense of wonder that was terrible – though not in such a way that it stopped action but brought us into the world more fully instead” (Tsing, 2021).
Speculating about human and non-human life forms from a fictional point of view can reveal common grounds and disclose shared values. To understand life as a whole in this way, we must reflect on and re-imagine the meaning, origin, and purpose of current cohabitations. Ultimately, we are “carrier bags” of meaning that we pass on and that can form possible conceptual displacements.
criticism¶
The remaining problem with democratising storytelling is that it is not treated seriously and is dismissed as not real, as pure fiction. It appears that “at that moment, the ‘real’ expanded and swallowed up whole continents of social imagination marginalising as fantasy whatever was left” (Dunne & Raby, 2013, p.19). But this did not occur by accident. It is the result of our fast-paced societies that especially in the west are becoming more and more intense and absorbing. What is being proposed might fairly be called idealistic, as it suggests a radical twist in these realities that we daily experience. It can be a matter of privilege having the room to unsettle one’s microcosmos and all the comforts it comes along with. Expanding mindsets requires time and accessibility since “we need to look beyond design to the methodological playgrounds of cinema, literature, science, ethics, politics, and art; to explore, hybridise, borrow, and embrace the many tools available” (Dunne & Raby, 2013, p.14).
Writing history of the planet is not prerogative of writers, artists, or philosophers. In fact, it is not prerogative of the human but instead a fluid collaboration of expertise. Telling the story of life together is “about meaning and culture, about adding to what life could be […] it is a catalyst for social dreaming” (Dunne & Raby, 2013, p. 189). The past, the present, and the future appear to us through a multi-dimensional panorama. We all carry a bag. But its bottoms are open, its contents are everywhere. As we see, “the story isn’t over. Still there are seeds to be gathered, and room in the bag of stars“ (Le Guin, 1986). The story will never be over and the ways we tell and listen to them should never stay constant.
references¶
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Anderson, B. (2016) Imagined communities: Reflections on the origin and spread of nationalism. London: Verso.
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Le Guin, U. K. (1986). The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction. Dancing at the Edge of the World. First published in Women of Vision (1988).
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Tsing, A. (2021). Anna Tsing in conversation with Sarah Shin. Das Neue Alphabet: Carrier Bag Fiction, 6, 88. Spector Books, Leipzig. Retrieved from https://tankmagazine.com/tank/2021/06/carrier-bag-anna-tsing
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Tsing, A. L., Bubandt, N., Gan, E., & Swanson, H. A. (2017). Arts of Living on a Damaged Planet: Ghosts and Monsters of the Anthropocene (3rd ed.). Univ Of Minnesota Press.
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Dunne, A., & Raby, F. (2013). Speculative Everything: Design, Fiction, and Social Dreaming (The MIT Press) (Illustrated). The MIT Press.