critical ideography: the vocabulary for futures

Criticial Ideography is a paradigm of futuring the language and the method of anticipation of the possible realities in what is to come. An ideograph is a word or a sign which can be frequently used in political discourse for communicating an idea or concept. In rhetorics, it often exists as a block, one term or a short phrase that orients the attitude of an ideology or belief. The term was coined by critic Michael Calvin McGee, who used it for the analysis of the political speeches. In lexicography and rhetorics, ideographs are analysed in synchronic or diachronic way, in tracing either the present meaning of it or the history and transformation of the meaning respectively. The paradigm of Critical Ideography introduces the third approach to analysis and engagement with ideography through the agency of anticipation. The relevance of developing the language for thinking and discussing possible future is paramount - as philosopher Jacques Derrida indicated, “there is no outside-text”.

The political, aesthetic, popular and encyclopaedic definitions of normative terms that knit the matrix of a culture are synchronically and diachronically developed in relation to their future potential in shaping the things to come. Beyond the deciphering and speculating on metamorphosis of the existing political lexicography, anticipatory ideographic research introduces the new terminology that is instrumental for shaping the political imaginaries of desirable futures. The development of the method of anticipatory analysis of ideographs, looking into what words and signs could mean in possible futures, alongside introduction of the terminology for alternative futures is the focus on Critical Ideography.