Pub Date : 2022-11-01DOI: 10.5325/utopianstudies.33.3.0384
L. Schmeink
abstract:The article analyzes two recent German novels, Die Optimierer by Theresa Hannig and QualityLand by Marc-Uwe Kling, regarding their depiction of societies undergoing datafication and automation processes and argues that instead of conforming to more common dystopian visions as anti-individualist, the depicted societies are highly individualized in their engagement with social media. Even though the political and economic systems in both novels function differently, both claim that the already existing surveillance capitalism will be further entrenched and that instrumentarian power structures will be established to shape the behavior of citizens for the system's benefits. The article reads the novels as warnings against instrumentarian mechanisms that are enhanced by processes of automation and algorithmic control.
{"title":"Optimize Your Life! Work, Automation, and Instrumentarianism in Contemporary German Utopian Literature","authors":"L. Schmeink","doi":"10.5325/utopianstudies.33.3.0384","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5325/utopianstudies.33.3.0384","url":null,"abstract":"abstract:The article analyzes two recent German novels, Die Optimierer by Theresa Hannig and QualityLand by Marc-Uwe Kling, regarding their depiction of societies undergoing datafication and automation processes and argues that instead of conforming to more common dystopian visions as anti-individualist, the depicted societies are highly individualized in their engagement with social media. Even though the political and economic systems in both novels function differently, both claim that the already existing surveillance capitalism will be further entrenched and that instrumentarian power structures will be established to shape the behavior of citizens for the system's benefits. The article reads the novels as warnings against instrumentarian mechanisms that are enhanced by processes of automation and algorithmic control.","PeriodicalId":44751,"journal":{"name":"Utopian Studies","volume":"33 1","pages":"384 - 405"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2022-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47729654","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-11-01DOI: 10.5325/utopianstudies.33.3.0495
Jonathan Kaplan
abstract:Leviticus 25 details legislation for the regularized practice of economic relief in sabbatical and jubilee years. Earlier scholarship described the jubilee legislation as utopian in order to question its feasibility. In contrast, this article employs the term as a critical lens through which to better appreciate the shape and character of the jubilee legislation. Building on scholarship on utopian literature as well as work on the role of law in utopian literature, the author argues that the author of Leviticus 25 employs distinctive economic practices, an idyllic description of Israelite society, and unique terminology and ritual practices for the jubilee in order to present its plausible utopian economic vision for Israelite society. This utopian legislation envisions a credible alternative to the existing practices of ancient Israelite society even if its specific historical context is difficult to determine and its specific statutes could be regarded as dystopian by some members of this society.
{"title":"The Levitical Jubilee as a Utopian Legal Institution","authors":"Jonathan Kaplan","doi":"10.5325/utopianstudies.33.3.0495","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5325/utopianstudies.33.3.0495","url":null,"abstract":"abstract:Leviticus 25 details legislation for the regularized practice of economic relief in sabbatical and jubilee years. Earlier scholarship described the jubilee legislation as utopian in order to question its feasibility. In contrast, this article employs the term as a critical lens through which to better appreciate the shape and character of the jubilee legislation. Building on scholarship on utopian literature as well as work on the role of law in utopian literature, the author argues that the author of Leviticus 25 employs distinctive economic practices, an idyllic description of Israelite society, and unique terminology and ritual practices for the jubilee in order to present its plausible utopian economic vision for Israelite society. This utopian legislation envisions a credible alternative to the existing practices of ancient Israelite society even if its specific historical context is difficult to determine and its specific statutes could be regarded as dystopian by some members of this society.","PeriodicalId":44751,"journal":{"name":"Utopian Studies","volume":"33 1","pages":"495 - 513"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2022-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47756872","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-11-01DOI: 10.5325/utopianstudies.33.3.0521
Shaoming Duan
{"title":"Research on the Transformation of Contemporary Chinese Science Fiction by Zhan Ling (review)","authors":"Shaoming Duan","doi":"10.5325/utopianstudies.33.3.0521","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5325/utopianstudies.33.3.0521","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":44751,"journal":{"name":"Utopian Studies","volume":"33 1","pages":"521 - 527"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2022-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41409442","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-11-01DOI: 10.5325/utopianstudies.33.3.0406
Jan-Boje Frauen
abstract:This article examines the connections between social perfectibility and individual identity through George Orwell's famous non-place "Oceania" in 1984 (1949). It is argued that "Ingsoc" Party members see reality filtered through "collective solipsism," which is a mirage that is superimposed upon the material state of affairs in individual perception by the augmentation of every individual's environment with constant feedback from the social superstructure. Thus, perceptions, memories, and possibly even personalities are constructed situationally as fit for the superstructure. Due to the constantly intensifying regress of cognitive and material enabling factors, this "collective delusion" will detach itself from the material realm completely in 2050 when individual consciousness fully dissolves into Big Brother's super-mind. 1984 thus depicts a dystopian-utopian, "blackwhite" society on the "event horizon" to a "singularity," which will emerge when the state or collective becomes an absolute and no traces of private life remain.
{"title":"From Big Brother to the Big Bang: Self, Science, and Singularity in George Orwell's 1984","authors":"Jan-Boje Frauen","doi":"10.5325/utopianstudies.33.3.0406","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5325/utopianstudies.33.3.0406","url":null,"abstract":"abstract:This article examines the connections between social perfectibility and individual identity through George Orwell's famous non-place \"Oceania\" in 1984 (1949). It is argued that \"Ingsoc\" Party members see reality filtered through \"collective solipsism,\" which is a mirage that is superimposed upon the material state of affairs in individual perception by the augmentation of every individual's environment with constant feedback from the social superstructure. Thus, perceptions, memories, and possibly even personalities are constructed situationally as fit for the superstructure. Due to the constantly intensifying regress of cognitive and material enabling factors, this \"collective delusion\" will detach itself from the material realm completely in 2050 when individual consciousness fully dissolves into Big Brother's super-mind. 1984 thus depicts a dystopian-utopian, \"blackwhite\" society on the \"event horizon\" to a \"singularity,\" which will emerge when the state or collective becomes an absolute and no traces of private life remain.","PeriodicalId":44751,"journal":{"name":"Utopian Studies","volume":"33 1","pages":"406 - 423"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2022-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48876522","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-11-01DOI: 10.5325/utopianstudies.33.3.0353
Lyman Tower Sargent
abstract:An overview of the importance of religion, particularly Christianity, has had in American life from the earliest explorations and settlements to the present day and the way that importance has been reflected in numerous religious utopias and dystopias. Positive utopias have been inspired by Christ's teachings and by Eden, heaven, and the millennium. Dystopias, found mostly in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, reflect, on the one hand, a fear that Christianity is under threat, and, on the other hand, the fear that fundamentalist Christians will impose their beliefs on the country. There have also been a number of Jewish utopias and anti-Semitic dystopias as well as a few Islamic utopias and a growing number of anti-Islamic dystopias based on the belief that Muslims want to impose Shari`a law on everyone.
{"title":"Religion in US Utopian Literature","authors":"Lyman Tower Sargent","doi":"10.5325/utopianstudies.33.3.0353","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5325/utopianstudies.33.3.0353","url":null,"abstract":"abstract:An overview of the importance of religion, particularly Christianity, has had in American life from the earliest explorations and settlements to the present day and the way that importance has been reflected in numerous religious utopias and dystopias. Positive utopias have been inspired by Christ's teachings and by Eden, heaven, and the millennium. Dystopias, found mostly in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, reflect, on the one hand, a fear that Christianity is under threat, and, on the other hand, the fear that fundamentalist Christians will impose their beliefs on the country. There have also been a number of Jewish utopias and anti-Semitic dystopias as well as a few Islamic utopias and a growing number of anti-Islamic dystopias based on the belief that Muslims want to impose Shari`a law on everyone.","PeriodicalId":44751,"journal":{"name":"Utopian Studies","volume":"33 1","pages":"353 - 383"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2022-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44233541","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-11-01DOI: 10.5325/utopianstudies.33.3.0515
L. Schmeink
{"title":"Embodying Contagion: The Viropolitics of Horror and Desire in Contemporary Discourse ed. by Sandra Becker, Megen de Bruin-Molé, and Sara Polak (review)","authors":"L. Schmeink","doi":"10.5325/utopianstudies.33.3.0515","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5325/utopianstudies.33.3.0515","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":44751,"journal":{"name":"Utopian Studies","volume":"33 1","pages":"515 - 518"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2022-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47952212","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-07-01DOI: 10.5325/utopianstudies.33.2.0350
Timothy A. Miller
{"title":"Architecture and Anarchism: Building without Authority","authors":"Timothy A. Miller","doi":"10.5325/utopianstudies.33.2.0350","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5325/utopianstudies.33.2.0350","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":44751,"journal":{"name":"Utopian Studies","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2022-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43597934","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-07-01DOI: 10.5325/utopianstudies.33.2.0317
G. Ledent
abstract:Born in periods of crises, utopias adopt a threefold structure: a critique of society, a spatial arrangement, and a new society sustained by this spatial arrangement. Accordingly, space and architecture are recognized as spatial levers to address crises and change societies. However, three problematic characteristics emerge from an analysis of past and contemporary utopias. First, utopias do not always advocate for new societal orders, as some tend to consolidate the existing ones. Second, they have evolved to be increasingly tangible. Third, while appearing as collective narratives, they are written by a single hand, allowing little variations. To address these issues and revitalize their critical potency, utopias could act as beacons rather than concrete projects, work on processes rather than goals, and build collective narratives rather than monologues. Eventually, the article illustrates architecture’s twofold rationale: a means to physically build space and a critical tool to reflect on society.
{"title":"The Double Role of Architecture: The Critical and Therapeutic Potency of Unbuilt Utopias","authors":"G. Ledent","doi":"10.5325/utopianstudies.33.2.0317","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5325/utopianstudies.33.2.0317","url":null,"abstract":"abstract:Born in periods of crises, utopias adopt a threefold structure: a critique of society, a spatial arrangement, and a new society sustained by this spatial arrangement. Accordingly, space and architecture are recognized as spatial levers to address crises and change societies. However, three problematic characteristics emerge from an analysis of past and contemporary utopias. First, utopias do not always advocate for new societal orders, as some tend to consolidate the existing ones. Second, they have evolved to be increasingly tangible. Third, while appearing as collective narratives, they are written by a single hand, allowing little variations. To address these issues and revitalize their critical potency, utopias could act as beacons rather than concrete projects, work on processes rather than goals, and build collective narratives rather than monologues. Eventually, the article illustrates architecture’s twofold rationale: a means to physically build space and a critical tool to reflect on society.","PeriodicalId":44751,"journal":{"name":"Utopian Studies","volume":"33 1","pages":"317 - 337"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2022-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44505138","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-07-01DOI: 10.5325/utopianstudies.33.2.0201
B. Bagchi
futuristic elements of science fiction, and Padmarag (1924), a short novel originally written in Bengali, which can be seen as com-plementary parts of a feminist utopian vision. These works show a desire for an egalitarian, decolonized nation, cutting through barriers of religion, gender, race, and class. Kuiti’s article shows how both fictions offer a vision of interreligious sisterhood, particularly by proposing Hindu-Muslim com-munal unity, against a backdrop of growing tensions between the Hindu and Muslim communities in fin-de-siècle British India. The article also shows how the Indigo Rebellion of 1859 in colonial Bengal is represented in Padmarag to create critiques of predatory colonial masculinity. Hossain’s utopian
{"title":"Introduction","authors":"B. Bagchi","doi":"10.5325/utopianstudies.33.2.0201","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5325/utopianstudies.33.2.0201","url":null,"abstract":"futuristic elements of science fiction, and Padmarag (1924), a short novel originally written in Bengali, which can be seen as com-plementary parts of a feminist utopian vision. These works show a desire for an egalitarian, decolonized nation, cutting through barriers of religion, gender, race, and class. Kuiti’s article shows how both fictions offer a vision of interreligious sisterhood, particularly by proposing Hindu-Muslim com-munal unity, against a backdrop of growing tensions between the Hindu and Muslim communities in fin-de-siècle British India. The article also shows how the Indigo Rebellion of 1859 in colonial Bengal is represented in Padmarag to create critiques of predatory colonial masculinity. Hossain’s utopian","PeriodicalId":44751,"journal":{"name":"Utopian Studies","volume":"33 1","pages":"201 - 205"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2022-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43156742","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-07-01DOI: 10.5325/utopianstudies.33.2.0240
Samadrita Kuiti
abstract:This article investigates the ways in which the Western theoretical construct of the feminist utopia has been rearticulated within the field of colonial and postcolonial studies. Particularly, it contends that Rokeya Hossain’s literary works innovatively use the framework of the feminist utopia to reimagine a decolonized nation premised on the ideals of gender equity and religious harmony. Using the scholarship of Barnita Bagchi, Sreejata Paul, Sandeep Banerjee, and Ralph Pordzik, among others, as a springboard, this article situates two of Hossain’s literary works—Sultana’s Dream (1905) and Padmarag (1924)—firmly at the intersections of feminist utopianism and postcolonial studies. By analyzing textual evidence and incorporating historical research on the Indigo Rebellion and the nationalist struggle for independence, the article also establishes ways in which Hossain reconfigures the discourse of nationalism by positioning the subjectivities of colonized women front and center.
{"title":"Decolonizing the Feminist Utopia: Interfaith Sisterhood and Anticolonial Feminist Resistance in Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain’s Sultana’s Dream and Padmarag","authors":"Samadrita Kuiti","doi":"10.5325/utopianstudies.33.2.0240","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5325/utopianstudies.33.2.0240","url":null,"abstract":"abstract:This article investigates the ways in which the Western theoretical construct of the feminist utopia has been rearticulated within the field of colonial and postcolonial studies. Particularly, it contends that Rokeya Hossain’s literary works innovatively use the framework of the feminist utopia to reimagine a decolonized nation premised on the ideals of gender equity and religious harmony. Using the scholarship of Barnita Bagchi, Sreejata Paul, Sandeep Banerjee, and Ralph Pordzik, among others, as a springboard, this article situates two of Hossain’s literary works—Sultana’s Dream (1905) and Padmarag (1924)—firmly at the intersections of feminist utopianism and postcolonial studies. By analyzing textual evidence and incorporating historical research on the Indigo Rebellion and the nationalist struggle for independence, the article also establishes ways in which Hossain reconfigures the discourse of nationalism by positioning the subjectivities of colonized women front and center.","PeriodicalId":44751,"journal":{"name":"Utopian Studies","volume":"33 1","pages":"240 - 256"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2022-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46950374","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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