introduction to Feminist Futures II: Unruly Beyonds

Unruly: adjective

  disorderly and disruptive and not amenable to discipline or control.

Beyond: noun

  the unknown, especially in references to life after death.

In response to the feminist futures shared in this issue, I offer the definitions of these two words that title the second instalment of Feminist Review’s two-part ‘Feminist Futures’ series. ¹ ‘Feminist Futures I: Dialogues Within’ (2023) brought together many voices through community-building, activism and movements, laying the groundwork for the imaginative, experimental work which now follows. Whilst the introduction for ‘Dialogues Within’ was authored by the whole collective, I write this as a single author on behalf of the collective. ² In doing so, I continue to reflect on our working practices: how do we work collectively whilst navigating the pressures of institutional labour in neoliberal times? How can we carve out the time and the space to do meaningful work? Such questions also speak to the concerns highlighted in this issue.

Whilst it isn’t possible for the issue’s title to capture all of the commonalities and differences between the authors, many of the pieces offer methods—disruptive, manifold, messy and playful ones—which we hope you will use to imagine, create and live the futures you desire and deserve. The unbounded creativity gathered in this issue radically departs from normative, singular and linear understandings of temporality. ³

‘Feminist Futures II: Unruly Beyonds’ represents a radical onto-epistemological shift in imagining futures through a lens that diffracts outwards into intersectional feminist, decolonised, liberatory, affective and erotic futures. ⁴ This gesture into the beyond offers limitless possibilities, representing an open invitation to explore collective and collaborative modes of thinking, doing and dreaming.