De Roest is Assistant Professor of Modern Dutch Literature at the University of Amsterdam. She earned her (cumlaude) PhD on Dutch-language hip hop and youth culture, and is fascinated by how young people create, share and use stories. In both her teaching and research she is constantly looking for new ways to connect literature to today’s world.

What does your project involve?

With her project Talk Future with Me, literary scholar Aafje de Roest wants to encourage young people to think creatively about their future. Ten young people will be paired with spoken word artists to create visions of the future in poetic or narrative form. ‘Young people are rarely heard in politics and policymaking, even though the decisions made there are about their future. I want to know how young people envision it, and what we can do with those insights.’

Alongside the creative work, the young people will also conduct their own research: they will analyse each other’s stories and together identify the recurring themes. ‘We want to share those findings with policymakers, for instance with the City of Amsterdam. In this way, the project will hopefully spark an ongoing dialogue.’

Why did you apply for an Impact Call?

For De Roest, the Impact Call is an important opportunity to bring research and society closer together. ‘The humanities have so much to contribute, especially in public debates. With this project, young people can make their voices heard, become enthusiastic about literary creativity and maybe even about academic research.’

She is using the Impact Call contribution to pay, among others, the makers involved. ‘It is important that artists and young people are taken seriously with appropriate compensation. That also increases the project’s impact and motivation to participate. For the young people, being mentored by an established spoken word artist is a real gift.’

What do you hope for the future of your project?

For De Roest, Talk Future with Me is more than a one-off initiative. ‘I see it as the first building block of a living youth archive: a collection of future stories showing how young people experience our world and dream about what lies ahead. I hope to expand the project nationwide, together with scholars, artists and social partners.’

It is also a new beginning for her personally. ‘My background is in literature, but this project is interdisciplinary. It allows me to experiment with creative and social science methods, and to combine theoretical insights from literary studies with, for example, ideas from future studies. Both exciting and inspiring!’