The Future under debate at the Católica XIII Summer School for the Study of Culture
"Future Futures" is the topic of the XIII Summer School for the Study of Culture which kicked off with a week of debates between students, researchers and academics of the Lisbon Consortium of the Universidade Católica Portuguesa. In the opening session, Isabel Capeloa Gil explained that "given the uneven capability of individuals throughout the globe to shape the future to come, it is clear that the future must be graphed in the plural as 'futures' that are culturally situated in distinct global realities".
A subject that Nelson Ribeiro, Director of the Faculty of Human Sciences (FCH), considers "crucial and urgent" to be debated, given that "we have to face the dangers of climate change, the threats of nuclear extinction and the questions brought by artificial intelligence".
The XIII Lisbon Summer School for the Study of Culture takes place between July 3 and 8. The event is organised by the Lisbon Consortium, a network that connects FCH's Culture Studies programme with partner institutions such as the Lisbon City Council, the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, the Cinematheque, among others, bringing together theory, applied research, cultural programming and management. The programme includes lectures and masterclasses with renowned academics, and presentations by MA and PhD students in Culture Studies, as well as cultural and artistic initiatives.
Alexandra Lopes, Director of the Research Centre for Communication and Culture, explained that "as an interdisciplinary research centre, CECC is fully committed in participating in this culture of dialogue, interrelatedness, between junior and senior, national and international, scholars, one where knowledge production is not seen as a contest but rather as a hospitable space for discussion and dissent, for participation and inclusion". This summer school is thus an opportunity for the discussion of different ideas, also allowing for the establishment of "networks, both formal and informal, which may prove fruitful for your life as researchers".
Regarding the event's topic, the Católica President said that "the future is what we do every day, it is what guides and haunts us as cultural analysts", recalling that "the Lisbon Consortium's motto is 'thinking ahead', that is opening untested pathways into the next future, to anticipate change, to engage with risk and to try simultaneously to limit it by creating robust narratives to anticipate and adapt to overwhelming change".