{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,16]],"date-time":"2026-05-16T17:08:41Z","timestamp":1778951321894,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":56,"publisher":"Emerald","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,6,24]],"date-time":"2022-06-24T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1656028800000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/www.emerald.com\/insight\/site-policies"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["JOE"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2023,4,4]]},"abstract":"<jats:sec><jats:title content-type=\"abstract-subheading\">Purpose<\/jats:title><jats:p>This paper explores practices of foresight within the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) program Futures Literacy, as a form of transnational governmentality\u2013founded on the interests of \u201cusing the future\u201d by \u201cemancipating\u201d the minds of humanity.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title content-type=\"abstract-subheading\">Design\/methodology\/approach<\/jats:title><jats:p>The paper draws on ethnographic material gathered over five years within the industry of futures consultancy, including UNESCO and its network of self-recognized futurists. The material consists of written sources, participant observation in on-site and digital events and workshops, and interviews.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title content-type=\"abstract-subheading\">Findings<\/jats:title><jats:p>Building on Foucault's (1991) concept of governmentality, which refers to the governing of governing and how subjects politically come into being, this paper critically examines the UNESCO Futures Literacy program by answering questions on ontology, deontology, technology and utopia. It shows how the underlying rationale of the Futures Literacy program departs from an ontological premise of anticipation as a fundamental capacity of biological life, constituting an ethical substance that can be worked on and self-controlled. This rationale speaks to the mandate of UNESCO, to foster peace in our minds, but also to the governing of governing at the individual level.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title content-type=\"abstract-subheading\">Originality\/value<\/jats:title><jats:p>In the intersection between the growing literature on anticipation and research concerning governmentality the paper adds ethnographically based knowledge to the field of transnational governance. Earlier ethnographic studies of UNESCO have mostly focused upon its role for cultural heritage, or more broadly neoliberal forms of governing.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1108\/joe-10-2021-0055","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,6,24]],"date-time":"2022-06-24T13:58:06Z","timestamp":1656079086000},"page":"105-119","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":8,"title":["Governing anticipation: UNESCO making humankind futures literate"],"prefix":"10.1108","volume":"12","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5986-7165","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ulrik","family":"Jennische","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6797-3892","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Adrienne","family":"S\u00f6rbom","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"140","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,6,24]]},"reference":[{"issue":"1","key":"key2023040304573757500_ref001","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"3","DOI":"10.1177\/0010836717703674","article-title":"Governmentality of the Arctic as an international region","volume":"53","year":"2018","journal-title":"Cooperation and Conflict"},{"key":"key2023040304573757500_ref002","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"6","DOI":"10.1016\/j.futures.2017.01.001","article-title":"Contesting anticipatory regimes in education: exploring alternative educational orientations to the future","volume":"94","year":"2017","journal-title":"Futures"},{"key":"key2023040304573757500_ref055","volume-title":"The Future of the World: Futurology, Futurists, and the Struggle for the Post Cold War Imagination","year":"2018"},{"key":"key2023040304573757500_ref054","first-page":"106","volume-title":"The Politics of Globality since 1945: Assembling the Planet","year":"2016"},{"key":"key2023040304573757500_ref003","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Ansell, N., Flora Hajdu, F., Robson, E., Van Blerk, L. and Marandet, E. 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