Utopian studies

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A "Utopia" sign in Brazil. Utopia words.jpg
A "Utopia" sign in Brazil.

Utopian studies is an interdisciplinary field of study that researches utopianism in all its forms, including utopian politics, utopian literature and art, utopian theory, and intentional communities. In a 1516 book with the same name, the term utopia was coined by Sir Thomas More. Utopian studies can be subdivided into three major areas: study of utopian works, communitarianism and utopian social theory. [1] A study opposite to Utopian studies is Dystopian studies. While Utopias are non-existent societies people dream of, dystopias are essentially non-existent and non-desirable societies that individuals deem worse than their present society. [1] They are also known as negative utopias. [1]

Contents

History

Denis Vairasse is mentioned among the earliest scholars in this field. [1] His History of the Sevarambians contains one of the first thoughts on theoretical reflection on the concept of utopia: "Those who have read Plato's Republic or the Utopia of Thomas More or Chancellor Bacon's New Atlantis, which are in fact nothing more than the ingenious inventions ["imaginations"] of these authors, may think perhaps that this account of newly discovered countries, with all their marvels, is of a similar type ["sont de ce genre"]." [1]

After the Summer of Love in 1960s, there was a significant increase in utopian works. [1] The Society for Utopian Studies was founded in 1975 and the Utopian Studies Society was founded in 1988.

Significant utopian studies scholars (in roughly chronological order)

Principal research institutions, journals, conferences, societies, awards

Research institutions:

NameLocationRef
Ralahine Centre for Utopian Studies University of Limerick [2]
Department of Modern Languages, Literatures and Cultures University of Bologna [3]
Interdepartmental Center for Utopian Studies University of Lecce [4]

Societies:

Journals:

Conferences:

Awards:

Significant works

Authors/EditorsDescriptionYear
Ernst Bloch The Principle of Hope. 3 Vols. Trans. Neville Plaice, Stephen Plaice, Paul Knight. Oxford: Blackwell1986 [1937-41]
Gregory Claeys and Lyman Tower Sargent (eds)The Utopia Reader. New York: New York University Press1999
Gregory Claeys (ed.)The Cambridge Companion to utopian Literature. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press2010
Vincent GeogheganUtopianism and Marxism. London: Methuen1987
Fredric Jameson Archaeologies of the Future: The Desire Called Utopia and Other Science Fictions. London: Verso2005
Krishnan KumarUtopia and Anti-utopia in Modern Times. Oxford: Blackwell1987
Krishnan KumarUtopianism. Milton Keynes: Open University Press1991
Ruth Levitas The Concept of Utopia. London: Allan1990
Karl Mannheim Ideology and Utopia: an Introduction to the Sociology of Knowledge. Trans. Louis Wirth and Edward Shils. London: Routledge1936 [1929]
Tom Moylan Demand the Impossible: Science Fiction and the Utopian Imagination. London: Methuen1986
Tom Moylan Scraps of the Untainted Sky: Science Fiction, Utopia, Dystopia. Boulder and Oxford: Westview Press2000
Tom Moylan and Rafaella Baccolini (eds.)Utopia-Method-Vision: The Use Value of Social Dreaming. Oxford and Bern: Peter Lang2007
Peter Y. PaikFrom Utopia to Apocalypse: Science Fiction and the Politics of Catastrophe. Minneapolis: U of Minnesota P2010
Lyman Tower Sargent British and American Utopian Literature 1516-1985: An Annotated, Chronological Bibliography. New York: Garland1988
Lyman Tower SargentUtopianism: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press2010
Lucy SargissonContemporary Feminist Utopianism. London: Routledge1996
Lucy Sargisson and Lyman Tower SargentLiving in Utopia: New Zealand's Intentional Communities. Aldershot: Ashgate2004
Darko Suvin Metamorphoses of Science Fiction: On the Poetics and History of a Literary Genre. New Haven: Yale University Press1979
Darko Suvin Defined by a Hollow: Essays on Utopia, Science Fiction and Political Epistemology. Frankfurt am Main, Oxford and Bern: Peter Lang2010
Raymond Williams Tenses of Imagination: Raymond Williams on Science Fiction, Utopia and Dystopia. Ed. Andrew Milner. Frankfurt am Main, Oxford and Bern: Peter Lang2010

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Peter Fitting -- A Short History of Utopian Studies". www.depauw.edu. 2009. Retrieved 26 December 2021.
  2. ↑ "University of Limerick". ulsites.ul.ie. Retrieved 28 December 2021.
  3. ↑ "Advanced Research in Utopian Studies in Italy". CETAPS. Retrieved 28 December 2021.
  4. ↑ "Larry E. Hough Distinguished Service Award". The Society for Utopian Studies. 6 April 2013. Retrieved 28 December 2021.


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