Hope’s Work

Les Back

doi:10.1111/anti.12644

Abstract

AbstractThis article, given as the Antipode RGS‐IBG Lecture on 28 August 2019, argues that hope can be found through training an attentiveness to the social world in troubled times. Hope then is an empirical question and a matter of documenting hopeful possibilities that often otherwise remain unremarked upon. In this sense “worldly hope” draws possibilities that are manifested in the social world and stands in contrast to cruel forms of optimism or an unrealistic faith in future progress. An argument for such an approach to hope and trouble is developed through two examples drawn from contemporary London life, namely, the silent walks at Grenfell Tower in West London and a community arts project in Bellingham, South East London.

Highlights

It is perhaps easier to offer a list of worldly troubles than it is to speak of hope in our times
Since the fire on 14 June 2017 at Grenfell Tower that killed 72 people, local residents in North Kensington have organised a silent walk each month to protest the on-going injustice and insensitivity they experience from the authorities in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea
The story of how this uncelebrated street got its name and the social geography of this place is another example of what might be learned through attentiveness to everyday life and unexpected moments of radical hope

Summary

Introduction

It is perhaps easier to offer a list of worldly troubles than it is to speak of hope in our times. Since the fire on 14 June 2017 at Grenfell Tower that killed 72 people, local residents in North Kensington have organised a silent walk each month to protest the on-going injustice and insensitivity they experience from the authorities in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (where the 2019 Royal Geographical Society annual international conference took place).

Results

Conclusion