KUSHAL SOHAL

Q&A

Kushal Sohal is a Futures Literacy Designer and Project Lead in the Advisory and Services Practice at SOIF. He has been working with emerging leaders to address childhood sexual violence, codesigning participatory processes to reimagine democracy, and creating futures training courses. Prior to this, Kushal worked for three years with the UNESCO Futures Literacy and Foresight team, delivering futures projects with UN agencies and government ministries. Kushal is also a Next Generation Foresight Practitioner (NGFP Awards 2021); this fellowship supports his independent efforts to advance futures literacy capabilities with community groups and universities, with a focus on questions of social justice. He has been certified as a Human Systems Dynamics Practitioner by the Human Systems Dynamics Global Services. He holds a BA in History from University College London and a MSc in Modern South Asian Studies from the University of Oxford. He splits time between New Delhi and London.

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Sindhu Rajasekaran (SR): 'Imagination is a vehicle for resistance, hope, and agency' you say. Can you elaborate on this? We live in such a dystopian world, where everything is so complicated and ironic. How do you think we can find a way to see through the illusions of the present to *imagine* and create equitable futures?

Kushal Sohal (KS): Dystopian is the word to describe today in everyday language for folks who share a politics like ours perhaps, but the futures literacy nerd in me is inclined to do away with the dichotomy of dystopia-utopia. We see contestation, efforts to make finite an infinite terrain of experiences, gazes, identities that have long been in interplay, the messiness of “past-present-future” at play in ways that need not be simply defined but a truth to prompt consciousness of everyday pluralism and empathy. An invitation to share in a reimagining of who we are, what we are, and where we can go from here.

It is a critical global moment, where fragile and paranoid mythologies are cracking left, right and centre and yet things often go on as “normal”. It deeply enrages and maddens me, it feels like a spiral downwards has characterised “the global” in my first years as a young adult - futuring has become a critical source of hope, love, and energy for me. I feel much can be captured by Audre Lorde’s words, that “the master’s tools can’t dismantle the master's house”.

I believe we cannot see through the illusions of the present if we apply the same lens and logic that have brought it into being, we must intentionally be subversive. It is scarcely enough to just reform systems that have been designed by a logic of oppression, working in many ways as they are intended to - it would be like putting a plaster on a wound that is calling out for replacement surgery. There is an important debate to be had though with a more conservative worldview, those who may want to effectively reinvent but believe it better to do so at a slower pace and sustain what works too. The critical part is that there needs to be ethical alignment and desire to interrogate our assumptions, without that basis it becomes hard to have a conversation about the relationship between reimagining and speed of action – how best to hold and carry forth hearts and minds of the collective on the journey. That is where I would love for the futuring debate to be, but right now we are instead dealing with a far-right politics home to violent, exclusionary visioning - this needs to be flat out defeated, there is no way around that.

Psychoanalysts and historians can talk us through the differences in how political visions across the spectrum have often aimed to resolve great dilemmas. Speak to emotions, belonging and material conditions and depending on the logic applied, propose a particular promise of better days - vivid and persuasive; some of the core ingredients I would think. How do we “create equitable futures” you ask. The narrative politics of it may be similar, but I think it calls on us to do a few things differently.

Critically, make visible what is often rendered invisible: voices, knowledge and experiences at the margins of society (i.e. consider factors such as caste, class, gender, sexuality, race, religion and so on), indigenous wisdom, precolonial ways of being and doing, and appreciate diverse ways of anticipating - both among humans but also critically beyond them too, other living organisms as well as how time relates to the non-living subject matter around us. Diverse imaginaries in interplay stimulate greater collective intelligence, creating conditions where the chances of novelty emerging are higher and we see a more transformative set of ideas come forth. A vital element in all of this is reframing assumptions, which is foundational to futures literacy - to dream beyond the constraints of what has been deemed possible and permissible. We must go deep and ask where our assumptions come from, what they serve, and what alternatives emerge when we play with them? And so, I feel that is where imagination becomes a vehicle for resistance, hope and agency. All these elements have tensions and limitations, indeed we cannot over assume our agency to “create, design, build” futures, for the world is unpredictable, unknown, complex - the only constant is change; while useful in other ways, planning and preparation is not immune to this fact. As a leading futures literacy expert Riel Miller notes, what futures literacy can do is allow us to collaboratively make sense of and change the conditions of change, and in so doing we become more perceptive to the menu of choices before us and can be intentional with how we want to engage in the experiment that is living in this world. Let us break through walls that police creativity, that is rule 101 of dreaming for me - go dancing, freestyle!

SR: Oftentimes people do not make a connection between critical thinking and creative expression. Your work centres both these values. Please tell me how you envision these disciplines coming together, how they can inform one another, and lead to progressive change.

KS: When I was doing my Masters, I read a book by Sara Ahmed called ‘The Cultural Politics of Emotions,’ where she explains that reason and emotion is a dichotomy which falsely implies that the rational is ‘unemotional’ and emotional ‘unthought.’ Instead, she argues that ‘knowledge’ can be seen as the ‘mediator’, an understanding that arises out of a natural interplay between them. She calls for ‘willingness’ by means of honest curiosity in engagement with ‘knowledge’ unknown to us, through it we uncover ‘wonder’ – a ‘hopeful’ source of energy. For me, this logic also applies to the connection between critical thinking and creative expression. We can best cherish both values when we set them in interplay as opposed to isolating them from each other. Feel and think deeply, exploring the sources of our assumptions and simultaneously express stories and imaginaries through drama, music, painting, craft. It is being and doing in interplay. For futures literacy this is vital for it sets the scene for the emergence of collective intelligence - unlocking of shared knowledge that is humble in the face of complexity and perceptive to what may be emergent and novel when we come together and explore the ways we anticipate, make sense of the world and imagine futures. If we enter into this process with the ‘willingness’ Sara Ahmed talks about, I believe we move further in the direction of the progressive and the radical as opposed to a policing of imagination, which would otherwise see us struggle to dream beyond the paradigms of today, and at worst colonise the future with the dominant narratives that shape this world we live in. In many ways, we are also talking about a need to bust mythologies that have shaped dominant understandings of schooling over the last century or two. We could see this work as a humanising journey too, to free our innate capacities - ones that we have long constrained out of fear of complexity and the paranoid desire to have control, when the truth is that uncertainty is the only certainty.

SR: What is "codesigning"? What does this involve and how does this process help in (re)imagining democracies among polycrisis?

KS: Codesigning is a core principle underpinning the creation of a futures literacy experiment, for instance a futures literacy laboratory which is an action-research, learn-by-doing workshop environment that invites participants to explore a plethora of futures, challenge assumptions, ask new questions, and consider ways such can shift action in the present. Codesigning for such an activity would involve a collective with different lived experiences and understandings of the proposed topic coming together to build what I have learnt to call an ‘annotated agenda,’ a workshop plan and facilitator guide with the proposed tools and questions that may be used. These may be people from different communities, organisations - essentially different stakeholders for the issue of concern if you like. Ideally, the codesign team would be a microcosm of the prospective diversity of your workshop participants, such that you can design with the necessary sensitivity, awareness and reflection and thus increase the chance of creating a safe, energising, and playful learning experience for all.

The codesign process would often include a simulation exercise, where co-designers and some prospective participants would explore different tools, approaches, methods, and activities that might suit their objectives and contexts, as well as begin to play with the topic area itself. For instance, if we are taking an interest in the “future of democracy”, we may begin with surfacing some foundational hopes and fears we hold about the topic. This would render explicit to us underlying anticipatory assumptions which we can challenge and play with in the design of the exercises, especially if we are keen to design reframe scenarios that invite participants to disrupt assumptions and imagine beyond the realm of “possibility”. Scenario parameters would function as an open invitation for participants to ask, ‘what if’ and develop a narrative, give space for ‘collective intelligence’ to emerge, as we talked about earlier. Through such a simulation process, we may even realise that our proposed topic is not actually the question which we are most interested in. For instance, maybe through exploring our hopes and fears about democracy we become aware that our actual area of intrigue is governmentality, ways we organise society, the idea of politics, collective ownership, civicism or something else entirely - it is an opportunity to test initial ideas and nuance the area of enquiry. So, in the context of the polycrisis that you mention, codesigning allows us to be more intentional and specific with how we want to orient our reimagining and to be mindful of the limitations and duties that come with holding space for it.

What I have shared so far is what we could call codesigning for a formal, workshop-like setting. If we were to play with futuring and understand imaginaries in a more informal, less-curated manner - i.e. a road-side conversation - while core principles remain the same, aspects would be different. We may need to be more creative and conscious around context, positionality, what activities or questions are appropriate, and how we best engage in the space and time available. What remains an ethical imperative, however, is the equal stakes in the process, how it works, for what end and so on. In some ways I think it is akin to the ways of working that guide a good journalist or a social anthropologist - being as reflective and responsible as we can, accountable and corrective of errors, and to ensure a centring of imaginaries and stories of those we are talking with - lead with shared humanity, always.

SR: I'm a millennial parent of a Gen Alpha tween, so I'm all into the idea of "futures literacy." It seems so important and immediately necessary. It often feels like Gen Alpha is being raised in a multiverse (between digital realities, AI, gamified lifestyles, anthropogenic climate change, political instability). So, any literacy needs to be about the future, linked to the present (which shapes the future)! Tell me about what it means to be a Futures Literacy Designer, and what you hope to achieve through your work.

KS: It truly is a chaotic multiverse for a Gen Alpha tween to grow up in, I wish them hope and joy in navigating it all, and of course a far brighter future than what is characterising our present. I echo you, any literacy we build needs to have an eye on futures, be informed by presents, and I would also add consciousness of pasts too - all that plurality in messy interplay, the ‘entangled time tree’ as one of my favourites in this world of work, Geci Karuri Sebina, has named it. Just as we need to be cognisant of the multiple lived realities shaping perceptions of the present and learn to let go of the constraints of possibility in where imaginaries of futures can take us, so too must we engage with the past in its plurality - for instance, what is known, distorted, ancestral, forgotten, erased, uncertain.

For me, being a Futures Literacy Designer is to be an amplifier of hope – the importance of which the ever-inspirational Eva Kwamou Feukeu has taught much about since the days we worked together, and I first entered this world of playing with futures at UNESCO back in May 2021. I find it incredibly energising to work in community to design and facilitate spaces where we can come together to reimagine, especially in the current political moment. As much as the process is about the development of skills, transformation of assumptions, and becoming more innovative in our actions; I think at the root of it is raising individual and collective belief in the power of our imaginaries and stories - that they should be heard and can become vehicles for transforming our shared world. Ultimately, I hope that my little sphere of work can contribute towards the visioning, storytelling, strategising and organising we desperately need to counter and defeat authoritarian and fascist politics and thereby play a useful role in the larger collective journey towards realising a more progressive future - high hopes, but one that comes from love and that is plenty to keep me going!

SR: Some social impact initiatives you've worked on sound super interesting. Please tell me a little about: 'Playful Futures,' 'Reimagining Masculinities in Indian Public Spaces,' 'Futures of Feminist Foreign Policy,' and 'Futures of Parenting.'

KS: Of course, let me share a little about each one by one.

So ‘Playful Futures’ was one of two futuring exercises that I co-designed and facilitated as part of an Incubation Conference that took place in Mumbai in April 2025, it was hosted by The Circle - an organisation in India that works to reinvent education through supporting young leaders working in that area. These social entrepreneurs and prospective fellows of The Circle’s Incubation programme engaged in a futures literacy laboratory that encouraged them to work collectively to surface assumptions, and envision different types of futures - probable, reframed and desirable. The aim was to assess their abilities to critically reflect on the very idea of concepts such as learning and education, as well as express alternative narratives and visions in creative and persuasive ways. In the second activity of the day, ‘Using the Future’, they applied principles from Human Systems Dynamics to make sense of particular patterns related to their own projects and outline adaptive actions that they can take to better navigate complexity and uncertainty. These exercises supported The Circle team with the selection process, and I have enjoyed following the journey of the different fellows since then.

‘Reimagining Masculinities in Indian Public Spaces’ was a futures literacy laboratory that took place within the context of a YP Foundation Conclave called ‘Many Mirrors, Many Masculinities’, this event happened in New Delhi in February 2025. It was a short activity where participant groups envisioned different futures, reframed narratives, and expressed their ideas through creative mediums such as painting on canvas and creating artefacts with playdoh reflective of ideas for masculinities and a reimagining of the category of gender itself. We employed a common futures storytelling technique called Causal Layered Analysis in the process, encouraging everyone to explore the stories they were imagining across various levels - transforming underlying mythologies, rethinking systems, developing characters, and outlining potential headlines for each world. This was an activity that I facilitated live in two languages (Hindi and English) simultaneously, which was a first for me – a testing but a great learning experience. The idea behind this activity owes much to conversations with Fatima Juned, who was part of the team organising the conclave and a codesigner of this activity. We had worked previously together on a project exploring futures of Muslim women’s agency through interviews in Lucknow and Delhi, this led us to illustrating a gulf between Haqeeqat (reality) and Khwaab (dream).

‘Futures of Feminist Foreign Policy’ was a futures literacy laboratory that marked the end of month-long short courses on the topic - these were run by founder of The Gender Security Project, Kirthi Jayakumar. We ran such activities a few times between August-November 2023, and these engaged civil society activists, academics, and students. These activities explored a mixture of probable and preferable futures, as well as tailored reframed scenarios – followed by the creation of roadmaps and action plans. Personally, the foundations of this work came from experiences working in 2020-2021 on this very theme with politicians in the UK Labour Party and engagement with the Centre for Feminist Foreign Policy. Sadly, today neither champions nor acts in line with what a genuine feminist foreign policy means in practice; an absolute bare minimum would be to not send arms to a settler-colonial state that is carrying out the genocide of Palestinians, it is a disgrace that that even needs to be said.

‘Futures of Parenting’, this was my first futures literacy laboratory in an independent capacity - outside of my work with the UNESCO Futures Literacy team at the time, 2021-2024. It was part of my Next Generation Foresight Practitioner (NGFP) fellowship (2021-2022) with the School of International Futures, with whom I now work as a Futures Literacy Designer and Project Lead (2023-current). It took place virtually in July 2022, co-designed and co-facilitated with Parenthesis, a feminist collective based in Bengaluru. The activity explored probable futures, desirable visions, a reframe scenario challenging the gendering of reproductive labor, and new questions to guide action. Insights from the activity were published in the form of a Zine, these include reflections on themes such as community parenting, capitalism and inequality. I am also happy to share that one of the Parenthesis founders, Tena Pick, has launched Coro - a space in Bengaluru that has been designed for kids to play, parents to work, and for the community to connect with each other.

SR: You have also worked on urban spaces & their futuristic potential. Tell me about this. I've lived in several cities on three continents over the years, and am an urban soul. I'm always thinking about how these spaces will be in the future. Some cities already feel so futuristic. In your opinion, which cities have grown sustainably, do you think? What should cities of the future be like?

KS: I worked on a project exploring urban spaces with Siddhi Ashar, a creative futures designer, facilitator, and strategist who takes a keen interest in matters concerning cities and the climate. Working with the online platform Dark’n’Light, we organised ‘Untethered Cities’ - a day-long activity in Bengaluru, October 2024. An intergenerational group of participants reflective of different (but not all!) sectors and lived experiences explored a broad range of tailored reframe scenarios, aiming to disrupt dominant paradigms and envision alternative futures. Insights are captured in our blog, and a zine illustrated and written by the brilliant Adrija Gosh. Siddhi and I have also authored a paper - ‘Fluid, Timeless and Post-Garden Bengalurus’ - that reflects on the work in more detail. We presented this at a conference, ‘Imagining Urban Futures in India and Beyond,’ that took place at the Manipal Centre for Humanities in March 2025. The paper will be featured in an upcoming book on Urban Futures in India, co-edited by the conference convenor – Dr. Ketaki Chowkhani. We hope to improve on this work and continue to play with futuring the ‘urban’ across India in months ahead, watch this space!

Which cities have grown sustainably you ask, I think we would need to chat with an expert to know the details, but personally no definitive example comes to mind and that is concerning. I think the premise of ‘cities’ of the future is something to challenge and play with - is that the only way of organising modern society at large yet localised levels? Is it a human centric model, what would it mean to decentre? Critically, there is no one size fits all when it comes to futures - and that goes for cities too. As readers will learn about in Geci’s upcoming conversation with you Sindhu, narratives of what shapes the urban, “development” and so on are deeply tied to a logic that has driven colonialism, capitalism, and other oppressive systems - it is imperative that we imagine beyond such paradigms. The issues that face metropolitan cities today, whether it be London or New Delhi (the two cities that I am personally most familiar with), cannot be solved without such a willingness.

SR: Finally, tell me about what it means to be a global citizen. In an increasingly neo-nationalist world, why is it important to think collectively as a global community? How will that inform our future?

KS: A brilliant question! Funnily enough, one of my first little projects was called ‘In Conversation with the Global’ - a blog I used to run while a student, where the question of what is a ‘global citizen’ would often be the focus of my conversations with different personalities - educators, diplomats, academics. After a decade of being intrigued by what this all means, I have no definitive answer to share other than a conviction in the fact we are all connected, and this truth demands compassion that too often goes missing in systems that teach us the very opposite. This neo-nationalist world that you mention is home to a crumbling global order, the mythology of commitment to equal rights and dignity for all has been truly exposed. So, what we know for certain is that “the global” itself needs reimagining - beyond boundaries and borders, the tangible and intangible. And this is an endeavour that connects all components of our planet, and for humans that means all who have come before us, those here today, and future generations. The “global” and the “local” and all levels in between are in interplay (my favourite word by now!) of course, something we must remember. Currently, I find myself privileged to be working with the School of International Futures on two initiatives in particular that are global in nature, one amplifies the innovative imaginaries of grassroots democracy activists, and the second sees young leaders sprout transformative movements to tackle child-sexual abuse - each gives me much needed hope. Our violently polarised world is calling out for futures literacy. To entertain imagination is a must, it is the only way to disrupt and transform for the better. I take heed of the saying, nafrat ke bazaar mein muhabbat ki dukaan khol raha hoon (in the market of hatred, a store of love is opening), for futures literacy is a deep act of love, especially today; infinite wonder and care shall emerge where collective imagination empowers vision and action world over. I am hopeful.