Searching for hope

These days, there are a keen interest in hope and uncertainty in the social sciences. Conferences, review articles, and a growing literature on hope are coming out, with studies ranging from migration, nursing, positive psychology, political activism and much more. Why is this revival of hope studies happening now and how can we employ hope as an analytical framework in research?

In a new encyclopedia entry, senior researcher Nauja Kleist, reflects on these issues, with particular focus on anthropological and sociological perspectives. She suggests that the focus on hope is an expression of a sense of crisis and intensified uncertainty, following the shattered beliefs in a post-cold war world and the demise of meta-narratives of progress. Whether we look at Brexit, Trump’s presidency, refugees living in woods in the European borderland or the Covid-19 pandemic, uncertainty is pertinent. And so is the search for hope – whether hope is conceptualized as a productive analytical framework or sparks of hope are identified in social movements or expressions of conviviality.

We should not approach hope as an inherently ‘positive’ or emancipatory phenomenon, however, Kleist writes. Hope is always embedded in uncertainty and hope may be deeply ambivalent. Just as a sense of hopefulness may inspire us to keep going, it may lead to postponing action or justice, or turn into despair, paralyzing us. Furthermore, what constitutes hope for some may be experienced as hopelessness for others. High-risk migration and militarized border control are illustrative examples of this, Kleist argues, drawing on her longitudinal research on hope and uncertainty in precarious migration projects and in migration management.

The entry is part of the Palgrave Encyclopedia of the Possible, a comprehensive online resource that offers insights into multiple aspects of how we engage with and cultivate the possible within self, society and culture.