Dark Hope: Notes on Uncertain Futures

Abstract

Abstract In the midst of the Anthropocene, what might it mean to have hope? This article intends not to ‘answer’ such a question, but instead sketch possibilities for an alternative, cloudier, indeed livable understanding of ‘hope’. As an exercise in theopoetics, this piece offers the concept of ‘dark hope’ as a viable symbol for the purpose of eco-activisms—entangled, intersectional. To achieve a blurred illustration of this vision of ‘dark hope’, this article will trace relations between Karmen MacKendrick’s work on the haunting affects of memory, Paul Tillich’s confrontation with ‘non-being’, and queer visions of possible, and ever troubling, futures on a rapidly shifting planet. If nothing else, this project strives toward an understanding of hope that can stand up to the woes of anthropogenic climate change, that can be practiced in the face of disaster, that can be lived even in the midst of ruins.