Envisioning the Future
This chapter argues that those facing persistent injustice have extended permissions to experiment with the social arrangements to be built for future generations, since profound injustices predictably frustrate human flourishing and blockade choices about how to balance multiple aspects of social life. At the same time, it suggests reasons for caution about strongly detailed ideals of what the future should hold, since such blueprints can lead to the pursuit of political goals that are neither achievable nor desirable. The chapter argues that ideal visions can help to make vivid the implications of certain values and their relation to one another, but that such visions should be treated as akin to literary works, which expand the imagination without directly describing a world to be brought about. It argues for the viability of Aboriginal “self-determination” as a protean, midrange goal that maintains space for continued agency and experimentation over time.