Anthropology is said to have recently re-discovered sexuality, as well as orientations to future. However, not a lot of attention has been given to overlaps of these two strands of anthropological thought and practice and their ethnographic differences. Futures are thought to be varied and unpredictable, but also planned, sensed, expected and hoped for, but pathways to building them are faced with obstacles, failures and setbacks. That is especially the case in examples of various and different forms and types of activism as they represent the par excellence examples of future-making practices.
Therefore, in this paper I approach future-making practices of LGBTIQ+ individuals in Croatian capital, Zagreb, as they narrate and build their community’s future. Based on preliminary research data collected through ethnographic engagement in local activist networks, I argue that people self-identified as sexual minority (LGBTIQ+ people) narratively make their futures alone, but collectively build their futures through socialities based on participation, solidarity and desire.
This way, I am trying to map the epistemology of desire as parallel and complementary to the epistemology of the closet. Thinking and knowing through desire embedded in life-history approach and performed in queer community’s space offers a different way to think about collective futures in which individuals, their agency but also a sense of belonging play crucial part in developing community and its perception of self. By exploring the possibilities of desire thinking, I’m trying to move beyond imagination of the future and towards relating to the future as community’s building blocks.
