by Karla Paniagua “Meaningful learning process, and constituting its meaning, is an interactional product of the particular way in which the content of the new proposition is related to the content of relevant established ideas in cognitive structure.” D.P. Ausubel, The Acquisition and Retention of Knowledge: A Cognitive View According to David Ausubel (Ausubel, D. P., Novak, J. D., & Hanesian, H., 1978), the essence of meaningful learning is that symbolically expressed ideas are related to the student’s prior knowledge in a non-arbitrary and substantive way. In other words, learning does not occur in a vacuum but is intertwined with…
Author: Admin
By Jeanne Hoffman Introduction Imagine a future where health systems prioritise human connection and prevention, energy grids seamlessly blend with local ecosystems, leadership mirrors the fluidity and collaboration of nature itself and universities transform into learning whenever, wherever and whatever we want. This is not the world we currently inhabit, but it is the futures envisioned by the 15 participants at the Caloundra Series Futures Thinking and Transformational Masterclass (Masterclass), held at the Rumba Resort on the Queensland coast, 9-10 December. Facilitated by the author, Dr. Ivana Milojević and Prof. Sohail Inayatullah the Masterclass brought together diverse participants to explore,…
By Umar Sheraz I was introduced to the idea of teaching futures thinking to young children in 2020, by Teach the Future. Teach the Future is a global non-profit movement that promotes ‘futures literacy’ as a life skill for students and educators. The premise is simple and thought-provoking. We passionately teach about the past to millions of children but we do not tutor them about the future space, in which they will live. Working with kids from classes 5 to 8, provides a different and refreshing perspective about the future, then while working with adults. I have always been amazed…
by Lavonne Leong and Anisah Abdullah The Hesitant Feminist’s Guide to the Future was written for futurists and the futures-curious who believe that all genders should be considered equal, and yet weren’t sure whether they were allowed to call themselves or their practice ‘feminist’, or what price they might pay for doing so. We have all taken different paths to arrive at this symposium’s doorstep. Many of us are , or have been at one time, hesitant feminists. One of us, raised by a feminist mother, has been a feminist since before she left grade school–and sometimes still doesn’t mention…
by Sanna Ketonen-Oksi & Tiina Wikström Why feminism? As authors, we are two white middle-aged females with a doctoral level degree in science. As mothers of 3 daughters, we live in Finland, a democratic country that was ranked as the happiest country in the world in 2024, seventh time in a row (!). There is not much for us to complain or worry. Right? Yet, we have both lived in several continents and have always been internationally oriented, interested in learning about and from other cultures. The many personal connections and everyday experiences we have encountered both in the Global…
by Gillian Youngs The heavy emphasis on questions that confront us in ‘The Hesitant Feminist’s Guide to the Future’ (Milojevic 2024) is a useful and powerful approach to the contemporary state of play in both the thinking about and application of what might be termed feminist principles. One takeaway message from the approach is the need for such questions to be recognized and extensively debated, including in diverse arenas of policy and practice. International relations is clearly one of these arenas, concerning as it does state-based patriarchal structures and their expression through state-to-state and wider international processes and events. Feminist…
by Susana Hernandez-Toro, Rike Neuhoff & Kirsten van Dam Introduction In this article, three women come together to explore what “mother, motherhood, and mothering” – terms that occupy a unique space in feminist discourse, as personal experiences and deeply political institutions (e.g. Zufferey & Buchanan, 2019) – mean within feminist futures. All three of us work in the field of futures – Author 1 and Author 2 in a strategy-design consultancy and Author 3 as a researcher and teacher at a university. Anchored in the Futures Triangle (Inayatullah, 2008) as a framework, we discuss how the weight of the past,…
by Steven Lichty Introduction Quantum feminist futures represent the fusion of quantum social theory (QST) and feminist futures, offering a robust and holistic interdisciplinary framework for addressing some of the complexities of the shared epistemic, spiritual, and global challenges related to our meta-crisis (Rowson, 2020). Contemporary dominant paradigms guiding humanity’s engagement with society, governance, economies, and our shared natural environment remain trapped in epistemologies, ontologies, and axiologies (values, ethics, aesthetics, etc.) that typically only produce more “used futures.” These are unlikely to change radically in the coming decades; therefore, this short article contributes a speculative futures exploration of quantum feminist…
by Joelle Roth Abstract This essay, titled ‘The 25th Hour,’ examines gender-based time inequality through the lens of feminist futures studies, weaving together personal narrative, academic research, and futures thinking methodology. Drawing on Ivana Milojević’s work on feminist futures, it analyzes how traditional societal structures systematically allocate time unequally, creating a pervasive time deficit that particularly impacts women in Southeast Asia. The essay employs Causal Layered Analysis to examine how this temporal inequality manifests across different analytical layers, from visible daily challenges to deeper mythological underpinnings. Through an intersectional approach, the essay explores how factors such as geographic location and…
by Christopher Jones It was an honor to contribute to the polylogue about hesitant feminism (Milojević 2024). I have been fortunate to be able to encourage and promote women’s futures and women futurists over many years of research, writing, and teaching. Milojevićʻs (2024) provocative text cast a light on the challenges facing feminist futurists of any gender. By her definition, I am a futurist and feminist: a person who advocates for women’s equality, the feminist principles of non-violence, gender balance, social justice, and diversity of expression. In response to her checklist (Milojević, 2024, p. 58), I answered in the affirmative…