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Paper short abstract:

How are different futures mobilised by the state to achieve specific ends, and what processes can be observed from the production, circulation, and reception of futures? I hope to unpack the political project of crafting futures by studying the history and evolution of futurology in Singapore.

Paper long abstract:

Futures-making, scenario planning, or foresight studies are now indispensable to policymakers in Singapore. Yet, the process of futures-making itself remains opaque and ambiguous.How are different futures mobilised to achieve specific ends, and what processes can be observed from the production, circulation, and reception of futures? I hope to unpack the mechanics of future-crafting by focusing on the history and evolution of futurology in Singapore's civil service. What narratives of the future emerge – whether of utopia or dystopia – and how are these futures crafted?

First, I will analyse the methodological and epistemological tools used in futures-making e.g. scenario planning, and examine the assumptions are embedded in the process of crafting them. Second, I unpack the ways in which the “future” is mobilised to achieve (or not achieve) certain political and bureaucratic ends: for example, exploring the affects the future is endowed with, how futurists might frame immediate problems as future ones to achieve buy-in, or how futures generated translate into material and/or discursive results.

I’m especially curious about what it means to study future from a “local” rather than “global” perspective, especially given critiques about how futurology projects problematic “Anglo” assumptions onto what it assumes to be “global” futures. What horizontal linkages do we have with futures units around the world, and how is the history of Singapore’s futures practices situated in the global history of futurology? I’m also interested in unpacking assumptions of “futures-making” as an inherently elitist process, by looking at more participatory forms of future-making.