About this episode

Shumon Basar discusses the concepts of hope-rot and hope-core in the context of Gulf Futurism and the evolution of Dubai, emphasizing the importance of counter-histories in a digital age.

The pervasive exhaustion resulting from witnessing modern global atrocities often creates a paralyzing "hope-rot," yet the cultivation of an radical "hope-core" remains an essential engine for systemic transformation. Writer and curator, Shumon Basar, analyzes the rewiring of the global psyche through the rise of Gulf Futurism and the eventual arrival of a post-Western reality. His critique centers on the provincialization of the West, a phenomenon where a minority population disproportionately dictates universal narratives and conceptual models. The discussion further traverses the evolution of Dubai from a startup city to a global urban paradigm, alongside a sobering exploration of the war on amnesia", as Basar describes it, through alternative institutions and magical historical thinking. Ultimately, the conversation confronts the unmasking of power and the abandonment of institutional shame, reinforcing the vital necessity of counter-histories in an increasingly ahistorical digital age.

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