Queer Futures Studies and Critical Futures Studies: Meeting points and interconnected learnings

This paper aims to foster interdisciplinary dialogue and collaboration between Queer Futures Studies (QFS) and Critical Futures Studies (CFS). It begins by advocating for fluid and expansive approaches to queer futurity, cultivating a non-dualistic dialogue between Lee Edelman’s anti-futurism and José Esteban Muñoz’s utopian futurism, two keystones of time-oriented queer theory. Then, it brings queer theories into conversation with critical futures thinking. After setting a dialogue between both disciplines, the paper explores two central issues: first, how “queer,” “weird,” and “post-normal” perspectives can jointly inform futures imaginaries; and second, how non-normative visions of utopia can be conceptualized through “queer prototyping.” The conclusion synthesizes the paper’s key insights while proposing new directions for interdisciplinary engagement, encouraging deeper theoretical and methodological exchanges between these fields. • Bridges Queer Future Studies (QFS) and Critical Future Studies (CFS). • Expands the knowledge base of futures studies by establishing a dialogue between CFS and QFS. • Relates queer theories with post-normal theories and global weirding. • Proposes “queer prototyping” as a method for designing non-normative utopias. • Calls for interdisciplinary engagement to rethink QFS and CFS