UGRG/HPGRG (ONE DAY)
TITLE: Dialectics of Utopia/Dystopia
ORGANIZERS: Guy Baeten and Ross Loveridge (Department of Geography, University of Strathclyde)
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The twentieth Century was, arguably, the utopian Century - the era when dreams of technological progress, equality, social justice and a better world materialised in fundamental restructurings of cities and societies. Extraordinary amounts of creative energy envisioned, crafted, planned, and constructed these utopian worlds, both imagined and concrete, whether through communist revolutions, social-democratic reformism, or modernist rationality. Yet on reflection the utopian Century of dreams, hopes and social reconstruction, teems with contradictions. Urban utopias have metamorphised into the ruins that are contemporary dystopian ghettos and 'sink estates'. The Holocaust and the extinction camps were underpinned by an impeccable yet devastating rationality. Communism has collapsed spectacularly throughout most of the world in a systematic destruction of socialist utopianism and the remaking of utopia in capitalist terms. Thus the capitalist dystopia that gave rise to socialist utopian projects at the dawn of the twentieth Century, has now in itself put on the clothing of utopia, in the form of the neoliberal utopian 'globalisation' project. Neoliberalism, then, can be seen as a form of revanchist utopianism, reclaiming utopia in capitalist terms. The stubborn attempts to realise the imagined free market utopia generate, in turn, new dystopias. Where is utopia in 2001? - "There is a time and place in the ceaseless human endeavour to change the world, when alternative visions, no matter how fantastic, provide the grist for shaping powerful political forces for change. I believe we are at precisely such a moment". (David Harvey, 2000: 195)
This session wants to critically reflect on the history of utopianism/dystopianism and discuss whether we still need Utopia, what Utopia, how utopias relate to dystopias, and what geography can contribute to the discussion.
Possible themes include :
* Histories of utopianism/dystopianism
- Modernist utopias
- Degenerate utopias
- Urban/suburban/rural utopias and dystopias
* Theories of utopianism/dystopianism
- The relationship between utopia and dystopia
- Time, space, and utopias
- Utopia and dystopia as a process
- The scaling of utopias and dystopias
- Materialism, utopianism and idealism
- Religion, moral philosophy and utopias
* Building utopias
- Urban design, planning and utopianism
- Technological networks and utopias
- Imaginaries, architecture and utopias
* Politics and/of utopia
- Utopias, dystopias and Socialism
- Utopias, dystopias and the Far Right
- Identity politics, the celebration of difference, postmodern utopias/dystopias
- Avant garde movements, resistance movements and utopias
- Neo-liberal utopianism and dystopianism
- Dialectical utopianism
* Social (in)justice, utopias and dystopias
- Utopias : by whom, for whom ?
- Class, gender, race and utopianism
- Dystopian constructions of urban deprivation
- Utopia on trial
* Why Utopia?
* What Utopia?
Please contact one of the session organisers, Guy Baeten or Ross Loveridge, if you would like to submit a paper proposal (consisting of a title and an abstract of 200 words or so). We would like to stress that proposals from both established staff and postgraduate students are welcome. Papers can be theoretical but could also contain case studies, drawn from whatever part of the world. We have the intention to edit a special journal issue based on a selection of papers from this session.
The deadline for submitting paper proposals is 15 June 2001.
Guy Baeten
Ross Loveridge
University of Strathclyde
Department of Geography
Graham Hills Building
50 Richmond Street
Glasgow G1 1XN
Tel 0044 (0)141 552 4400
Fax 0044 (0)141 5552 7857
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