Longing for the Future
The communication project 'Longing for the Future' draws on ethnographic data and research results originating from 'Construire son Avenir', a socio-anthropological research project located at the Centre for African Studies at the Univeristy of Basel. 'Construire son Avenir' explors career trajectories and self-conceptions of young graduates from Mali and Burkina Faso by a biographic approach. Extracts of these life trajectories serve as source of inspiration for various artistic encounters and reflections in the context of 'Longing for the Future'. Thus, within 'Longing for the Future' young photographers in Mali and Switzerland as well as theatre groups and directors of Burkina Faso, Switzerland and Germany reflect on the data and insights from the scientific research.
We thereby argue that young people across the world share similar hopes, ideas, expectations and face comparable challenges – although living in quite different realities and localities. For most of these young men and women passages from youth to adulthood, often related to passages from educational to working worlds, have become longer and are accompanied by increasing uncertainties. Frequently, prospects for steady jobs are rare and young graduates cannot be sure to find adequate formal employment. Moreover, social relations very often count more than diplomas, and the latter constitute only one of many possible stepping-stones towards success and respect. However, young people - everywhere in the world - do not simply wait for the future yet to come but rather develop new ways and tactics to realize their very own biographical projects. 'Longing for the Future' aims at making these practices, imaginations and dreams for the future accessible to a wider public.
'Longing for the Future' is funded by the Agora programme of the Swiss National Science Foundation (project number: 151508, project period: 01.09.2014 – 31.12.2017)