Posted: 1st December 2021
Narratives for Change: International Seminar
Hosted by the Faculty of Educational Sciences at the University of Seville, our international seminar gave us the opportunity to discuss our Future Narratives project, hear from experts in narrative and Future Studies, and for young people to share their stories with stakeholders and the wider public.
Future Narratives: Narratives for Change
Our event began with a welcome from Nerina Finetto, Director of Traces&Dreams and Coordinator of Future Narratives, Miguel Ángel Ballesteros Moscosio, Assistant Professor in the Department of Theory and History of Education and Social Pedagogy, and José Miguel Morales García, Director of Federación Andalucía Acoge. Nerina introduced Future Narratives with a discussion of the frames through which storytelling can help us open out our understanding of our place in the world and our potential futures. The role of Erasmus+ in supporting programmes such as Future Narratives was explained by Alexandra Storari of Euro Project Lab
Rhiannon Moss (Traces&Dreams) and Alicia Ocon Fdez (Andalucia Acoge) officially launched the project’s first publication, Future Narratives: Reflections and Inspirations for Youth Workers. Bashar Hussein and Abdulkadir Bulhan of Möjligheternas Plats spoke about their work with young people in Sweden, articulating both the challenges faced by the people they work with and their potent ability to tell their own stories and to shape their own futures.
Miguel Ángel contextualised the Future Narratives project in terms of the importance of narrative in shaping our understanding of the world, ranging from a discussion of the stories which framed the crises of the twentieth century to a provocative presentation of the possibility of reshaping these historical narratives to build new realities. We were then joined by Wendy Schultz, of the World Federation of Future Studies, who discussed the patterns we may trace in past images of the future, and how we can explore the stories of our own futures.
The timeline of biographies
As part of our workshop, young people had built a timeline of biographies to be presented as an installation at the event. The installation aimed to show the most important events in the lives of participants, and create future stories based on the new ideas about narrative they had explored through the week.
Read more about their stories here.
New stories, new futures
Following lively discussion of all presentations, the event was closed by young people themselves. Two young people took the stage to share their stories. From Sweden, we enjoyed a rap performance vividly depicting the challenges and opportunities faced by young people, while from Germany we heard a young woman’s experience working for the rights of women in Afghanistan, and her fears and hopes for the future after the events of Summer 2021 compelled her to move to Europe.
The event highlighted the importance of the stories we tell, to ourselves and to others, if we are to imagine new, sustainable, and inclusive futures. Stories created by young people in preparation for our event offer glimpses of how these futures might appear.
“Here is 2041 and I am living in Buenos Aires, Argentina. I am living with a dog and my beautiful wife. For my 41st birthday, she gave me two tickets for a Guns and Roses concert. This is great because we met Axl and Slash. We had a good time drinking mate and beer.”
“In the future, I see myself travelling around the world, trying to help people to tell their own stories. Since I have been working I have met so many important people that have made me learn how to express myself, how to tell my story and how this story could inspire other people to share their experiences.“
“In the future, I see myself travelling around the world, trying to help people to tell their own stories. Since I have been working I have met so many important people that have made me learn how to express myself, how to tell my story and how this story could inspire other people to share their experiences.“
“In the future, I see myself living in a society that has evolved past the need to consume aimlessly, so the ecological problems will have improved. I like to think that I will find a nice job so I’ll be living comfortably. I don’t see myself living in a big city, but in a quiet neighbourhood close to nature. Hopefully, my family will be healthy and I will find some stability.“