Since when was being hopeful a bad thing? Resistance and Utopian thinking in leisure studies

In this paper, five current graduate students in leisure studies with our supervisor collectively reflect our shared processes of becoming as leisure scholars and people. Bringing our experiences into conversation with Paulo Freire’s work on progressive education, hope and the imagination of utopia, we aim to (re)think how we as leisure scholars exist in a fraying leisure society and can generate possibilities for a liberated future. First, we introduce ourselves and explore the current state of the neoliberal leisure society that shapes our experiences. We then engage with the work of Paulo Freire and frame our approach to progressive education that centres dialogue, hope, leisure, resistance and utopian thinking. Throughout each section, we return to leisure and its role across our journeys as a way to practice collective self-care and hope as we consider what can be possible in leisure studies.