Late modernity is often interpreted as a movement that brings with it processes of alienation, social fragmentation, and irrevocable individuation. From that interpretation, community life is something that cannot prosper since, by definition, it is rooted in tradition, belongs to the past, and therefore does not form part of the future of human societies. However, in Latin America and other regions of the world, an indefinite but significant number of people live today under different community arrangements in both rural and urban contexts. Are we really witnessing the decline of the sense of community? Does community life have no future?
On the other hand, in recent decades there has been a growing interest in the future as a real anthropological problem. The anthropology of futures has begun its theoretical development, introducing new perspectives and new questions. However, some topics that have long belonged to the anthropological tradition have not yet received the proper attention. Communities in future perspective is one of them. In principle, community configurations can be understood as shared future projects within the framework of collective identity processes. The common future is one of their marks, as well as the conformation of new symbolic constructions that include limits of belonging and exclusion. In turn, the personal life projects of individual members include a community dimension that deserves an analysis not situated locally but in its global relationship. These are just two of the many possibilities for interrogating the link between futures and communities. But even the past, traditions, and community heritage are part of the future as an anthropological problem.
The main objective of the panel is to discuss heterogeneous community configurations; therefore, we invite papers that reflect on communities in light of future issues. Proposals that base their reflections on concrete ethnographic contexts will be privileged.
