The Revival of Political Imagination: Utopia as Methodology

ISBN-13: 9781786999597 / Angielski / Twarda / 2020 / 208 str.

Teppo Eskelinen

Opis

The Revival of Political Imagination offers a unique examination of the methodological aspects of utopia. Discussing utopia as a tool for social criticism, method and imaginative spaces - rather than in terms of its content - this volume analyses the function of utopias, to develop utopias as methodology and to show how instrumental utopian modes of thought can be in such diverse fields such as education, labour, and housing. Including discussions of traditional and contemporary utopias, as well as various forms of expression of utopian hope, from literature to social science and cultural practices, The Revival of Political Imagination is both analytical and practical in its elucidation of how political theory can function to foster our imaginative skills.

Spis treści

Part I: Diagnosis 1. Introduction: Utopias and the revival of imagination 2. Disruptive Utopianism: Opening the Present 3. The Privatisation and Recollectivisation of Hope Part II: Case Studies and Utopian Methodologies 4. Quilombist Utopias: An Ethnographic Reflection 5. Social Dreaming and Uses of Narrativity, Tellability and Experientiality in Literary Dystopia 6. Utopian Education – May the Hope Be With You Part III: Perspectives on Utopias 7. The Significance of Humour and Laughter for Utopian Thought 8. Architectural Utopias as Methods for Experimenting with the (Im)Possible 9. Democracy as Utopia: On Locating Radical Roots