Towards an Anti-Antiutopia Phillip Crosby
Enquiry (Washington, D.C.),
11/2023, Volume:
20, Issue:
2
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
This paper examines Darko Suvin’s and Kim Stanley Robinson’s assertion that the late-stage capitalism and neoliberalism of our world can be understood as an “antiutopia” that actively works to ...suppress the imagination of better futures. It argues that the relatively new science fiction sub-genre of solarpunk—which sets itself in direct opposition to the dystopian visions of the more well-known subgenre cyberpunk and imagines worlds that focus on the community rather than the individual, on environmental sustainability rather than environmental degradation, on social justice rather than subjugation and inequality, and on optimism rather than nihilism—offers some of the most promising paths toward the rejection of this antiutopia in favor of an anti-antiutopian (and therefore utopian) approach that actively works to bring about a better future. The paper suggests that the solarpunk futures currently emerging in literature, art, and online communities offer architects, landscape architects, and urban designers powerful inspiration for the future of our increasingly urban world. It examines a selection of short stories, novels, films, and other media—as well as innovative projects of urbanism—for examples of how embracing the practical utopianism of solarpunk can provide both visions of better worlds and potential paths for achieving them.
Towards an Anti-Antiutopia Phillip Crosby
Enquiry (Washington, D.C.),
11/2023, Volume:
20, Issue:
2
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
This paper examines Darko Suvin’s and Kim Stanley Robinson’s assertion that the late-stage capitalism and neoliberalism of our world can be understood as an “antiutopia” that actively works to ...suppress the imagination of better futures. It argues that the relatively new science fiction sub-genre of solarpunk—which sets itself in direct opposition to the dystopian visions of the more well-known subgenre cyberpunk and imagines worlds that focus on the community rather than the individual, on environmental sustainability rather than environmental degradation, on social justice rather than subjugation and inequality, and on optimism rather than nihilism—offers some of the most promising paths toward the rejection of this antiutopia in favor of an anti-antiutopian (and therefore utopian) approach that actively works to bring about a better future. The paper suggests that the solarpunk futures currently emerging in literature, art, and online communities offer architects, landscape architects, and urban designers powerful inspiration for the future of our increasingly urban world. It examines a selection of short stories, novels, films, and other media—as well as innovative projects of urbanism—for examples of how embracing the practical utopianism of solarpunk can provide both visions of better worlds and potential paths for achieving them.
Abstract This article examines the emergence, consolidation, and influence of the Cristianos por el Socialismo (CpS, or Christians for Socialism) movement as part of the overlapping political and ...religious transformations of the 1960s. The election of self-declared Marxist Salvador Allende in 1970 inspired a sector of the clergy to creatively converge the tenets of Marxism and Christianity. The notion of transcendence and the construction of a “New Man” appealed to the utopian aspects of both religious and Marxist thinking. The Chilean CpS had a Latin American impact, as evidenced by the First Latin American Encounter of Christians for Socialism in Santiago in 1972, and a transnational impact, as seen in the formation of the Ecumenical Association of Third World Theologians in 1976. The analysis of CpS and its influence within and outside of Chile reveals an often-overlooked component of the Chilean road to socialism: the work of Catholics in Marxist-Christian rapprochement.
Resumen Este artículo examina el surgimiento, consolidación e influencia del movimiento Cristianos por el Socialismo (CpS) dentro de una variedad de transformaciones políticas y religiosas interconectadas de los años sesenta. La elección de Salvador Allende en 1970 inspiró a un sector del clero chileno a vincular de manera creativa los principios del marxismo y el cristianismo. La noción de trascendencia y la construcción de un “Hombre Nuevo” apeló a los aspectos utópicos del pensamiento tanto religioso como marxista. El CpS chileno tuvo un impacto latinoamericano, como lo demuestra el Primer Encuentro Latinoamericano de Cristianos por el Socialismo en Santiago en 1972, y un impacto transnacional, visto en la formación de la Asociación Ecuménica de Teólogos del Tercer Mundo en 1976. El análisis del CpS y su influencia dentro y fuera de Chile revela el trabajo de los católicos en el acercamiento marxista-cristiano. Esta es una dimensión a menudo ignorada por la historiografía.
Neste artigo analisa-se e discute-se historicamente o conceito de esperança como categoria ontológica, na filosofia de Ernst Bloch e na pedagogia de Paulo Freire. Na atual conjuntura política, ética ...e cultural, falar de utopia e esperança torna-se fundamento categórico na área da educação e do ensino. Ao articular dialeticamente os sonhos, as utopias e as esperanças a uma práxis social, os autores desnudam seu oposto, isto é, põem às claras os mecanismos ideológicos de uma sociedade reificada e estratificada. Como contraponto à ideologia, as utopias abrem as portas da educação e da história para o novo mundo, com novas possibilidades e em eterna construção; afinal é este o lugar ideal para discutir a educação e o ensino: o devir, o novum, a formação do ser humano ainda incompleto. A fundamentação concreta da esperança e da utopia – relacionadas à pedagogia, à psicanálise, à filosofia e à história – permite pensar em novas concepções de tempo e de historicidade opostas à lógica do capital.
O propósito deste trabalho é fazer uma análise do último episódio da terceira temporada de Black Mirror, intitulado “Odiados pela nação”. Procura-se situar o episódio como uma reflexão sobre os ...sentidos da internet, sobretudo a respeito das redes sociais. Isso é motivo para se contrapor um conjunto de reflexões filosóficas que oscilam entre a utopia e a distopia. Nesse sentido, utiliza-se a analogia das redes com o enxame de abelhas como instrumento metafórico de análise; o que, de fato, conduz à conclusão de que uma interpretação distópica das redes sociais é mais atual do que qualquer descrição utopista.
Mediante el presente artículo se intenta una aproximación al análisis descriptivo del proceso de descentralización del recurso monetario y humano, que ha caracterizado aquella gestión para la ...innovación al interior del sistema de administración centralizado del sector educativo. Este sistema se mantuvo en Colombia desde inicios de los 70’s, pero que fue modificado durante la década de los 90’s. A lo largo de sus textos se describen las características más relevantes de la administración de recursos de nuestro sistema colombiano en los niveles básicos de la educación pública, la cual se ha distinguido por sus falencias de calidad y en los contenidos de sus programas de estudio; y por una cobertura a menudo deficitaria para la mayoría de la población cuyos recursos materiales y económicos son muy limitados; dicha población usualmente habita las regiones y municipios apartados dentro territorio geográfico de Colombia.
El artículo aboga por una relectura de la historia del pensamiento filosófico político-social latinoamericano en clave utópica. Para ello propone primero, con referencia a las obras de Tomás Moro y ...de Ernst Bloch, una concepción de la utopía como forma de conocimiento sociocultural. En la segunda parte usa dicha concepción para analizar tres “destellos utópicos” ejemplares y sintomáticos de la historia política del subcontinente. Finalmente aborda el potencial y la necesidad de este enfoque en el contexto planetario actual de pensamiento y estructura social marcado por la distopía.
Despite his producing voluminous writings beyond Utopia, scholarly consensus seems to be that if we want to understand the political thought of Thomas More, we must turn to this 'little book'. This ...approach, however, has yielded little consensus about how to categorise More as a political thinker, as Utopia is notoriously and intentionally enigmatic. This article attempts to generate a portrait of More as a political thinker by going beyond an investigation of Utopia alone and taking into consideration those texts often overlooked or rejected by scholars, primarily his polemical and religious writings. Doing so provides an outline of More as a thinker concerned with themes of natural and artificial inequality, popular authority and representation and, at the least, justifies the exercise of reading More's work beyond Utopia.
El artículo se propone analizar la relación entre Pizarnik y el cine registrada en su diario durante los años parisinos. Nuestro interés es demostrar que la conversación audiovisual de Pizarnik nace ...de una asimetría utópica, puesto que los films azuzan el deseo y le permiten al yo querer ser lo que no es. En el polo opuesto, el mundo exterior y el cuerpo situarán la voz en el presente, alejándola del lugar utópico e incrementando la fuerza gravitatoria del ideal.
In recent years, there has been increasing discontent with feminism’s understanding of its own history and, more specifically, the place of the feminist 1970s. Feminist scholars – most prominently, ...Elizabeth Freeman, Victoria Hesford, Kate Eichhorn and Kathi Weeks – have sought to move beyond the feelings of progress and nostalgia that the feminist 1970s often inspires. There is a need to mediate between the urge to leave the past behind and the desire to return to it, with feminists adopting positions that ricochet between progress and nostalgia. In this article, I argue that the feminist literary utopia offers a particularly productive means by which to represent this ambivalent, paradoxical temporal understanding. The classic feminist utopias of the 1970s have become the object of critical contention in more recent speculative texts, which destabilise both progress and nostalgia in their evocation of second-wave separatism. To elaborate this claim, I turn to Sarah Hall’s The Carhullan Army, which critically assesses the feminist 1970s via an account of a separatist feminist enclave in a near-future Britain. The community of women is a homage to the feminist 1970s, displaying both the potentialities of the movements of this time as well as their sometimes violent limitations. The dreams of the 1970s emerge in the text as an unsettling presence in the world, a force that can neither be left behind nor fully embraced.
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