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 created by Sir Thomas More. Utopian studies can be subdivided into three major parts: 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]
History
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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)
edit- Herbert Marcuse
- Karl Mannheim
- Ernst Bloch
- Krishnan Kumar
- Raymond Williams
- Darko Suvin
- Lyman Tower Sargent
- Gregory Claeys
- Erik Olin Wright
- Ruth Levitas
- Tom Moylan
- Fredric Jameson
- Lucy Sargisson
- Vincent Geoghegan
- Raffaella Baccolini
Principal research institutions, journals, conferences, societies, awards
editResearch institutions:
| Name | Location | Ref |
|---|---|---|
| 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:
- Society for Utopian Studies (North America, founded 1975)
- Utopian Studies Society (Europe, founded 1988)
Journals:
- Utopian Studies (founded 1987)
Conferences:
- Society for Utopian Studies, annual
- Utopian Studies Society, annual
Awards:
- The Lyman Tower Sargent Distinguished Scholar Award, made by the Society for Utopian Studies.
Significant works
edit| Authors/Editors | Description | Year |
|---|---|---|
| Ernst Bloch | The Principle of Hope. 3 Vols. Trans. Neville Plaice, Stephen Plaice, Paul Knight. Oxford: Blackwell | 1986 [1937-41] |
| Gregory Claeys and Lyman Tower Sargent (eds) | The Utopia Reader. New York: New York University Press | 1999 |
| Gregory Claeys (ed.) | The Cambridge Companion to utopian Literature. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press | 2010 |
| Vincent Geoghegan | Utopianism and Marxism. London: Methuen | 1987 |
| Fredric Jameson | Archaeologies of the Future: The Desire Called Utopia and Other Science Fictions. London: Verso | 2005 |
| Krishnan Kumar | Utopia and Anti-utopia in Modern Times. Oxford: Blackwell | 1987 |
| Krishnan Kumar | Utopianism. Milton Keynes: Open University Press | 1991 |
| Ruth Levitas | The Concept of Utopia. London: Allan | 1990 |
| Karl Mannheim | Ideology and Utopia: an Introduction to the Sociology of Knowledge. Trans. Louis Wirth and Edward Shils. London: Routledge | 1936 [1929] |
| Tom Moylan | Demand the Impossible: Science Fiction and the Utopian Imagination. London: Methuen | 1986 |
| Tom Moylan | Scraps of the Untainted Sky: Science Fiction, Utopia, Dystopia. Boulder and Oxford: Westview Press | 2000 |
| Tom Moylan and Rafaella Baccolini (eds.) | Utopia-Method-Vision: The Use Value of Social Dreaming. Oxford and Bern: Peter Lang | 2007 |
| Peter Y. Paik | From Utopia to Apocalypse: Science Fiction and the Politics of Catastrophe. Minneapolis: U of Minnesota P | 2010 |
| Lyman Tower Sargent | British and American Utopian Literature 1516-1985: An Annotated, Chronological Bibliography. New York: Garland | 1988 |
| Lyman Tower Sargent | Utopianism: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press | 2010 |
| Lucy Sargisson | Contemporary Feminist Utopianism. London: Routledge | 1996 |
| Lucy Sargisson and Lyman Tower Sargent | Living in Utopia: New Zealand's Intentional Communities. Aldershot: Ashgate | 2004 |
| Darko Suvin | Metamorphoses of Science Fiction: On the Poetics and History of a Literary Genre. New Haven: Yale University Press | 1979 |
| Darko Suvin | Defined by a Hollow: Essays on Utopia, Science Fiction and Political Epistemology. Frankfurt am Main, Oxford and Bern: Peter Lang | 2010 |
| Raymond Williams | Tenses of Imagination: Raymond Williams on Science Fiction, Utopia and Dystopia. Ed. Andrew Milner. Frankfurt am Main, Oxford and Bern: Peter Lang | 2010 |
References
edit- ^ a b c d e f "Peter Fitting -- A Short History of Utopian Studies". www.depauw.edu. 2009. Retrieved 26 December 2021.
- ^ "University of Limerick". ulsites.ul.ie. Retrieved 28 December 2021.
- ^ "Advanced Research in Utopian Studies in Italy". CETAPS. Retrieved 28 December 2021.
- ^ "Larry E. Hough Distinguished Service Award". The Society for Utopian Studies. 6 April 2013. Retrieved 28 December 2021.
External links
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