Researching imaginaries of the future as a tool for engendering grounded utopias for individual and social transformation and empowerment in educational environments

Abstract

This article is the result of a shared collaborative research project between the Oberstufen-Kolleg Bielefeld, the faculty of pedagogy of the University of Bielefeld and a research group based at the Open University of Catalonia (Universitat Oberta de Catalunya). It presents and discusses a human, sociological and pedagogical project in participatory action research, in which we sought to follow Appadurai’s call for research as a human right and put it into practice.  The article shares and analyzes a pedagogical practice in which the work with imaginaries was rendered an essential part of the educative process, becoming especially important for students who felt they were somehow excluded from full participation in social life. Furthermore, the article provides ideas about the relevance of putting imaginaries into participatory research, to relate society’s members in shared research processes as well as the remarkable reciprocal effects that might result from these practices.