This course will introduce participants to the utopian genre, to fiction that served authors to plan and discuss wholesale outlines for a better state (or even: world) order.
Participants will read excerpts from texts from the 16th to the 20th century. We will engage with questions such as:
what is a utopia?
is planning a better society a useful endeavor? Why was the utopian genre 'en vogue' in different historical periods?
how are utopianism and colonialism related?
aren't dystopias more realistic and thus more useful to society?
Why did 1984 reappear as a bestseller when Trump was elected?
This course will be held 'life' and physically present (hopefully mentally present as well) on a biweekly basis; every other week, the students will asynchronically work through provided materials and preparations for the discussions held in the meetings. This format allows for more intense discussions and to ease the 'frontal' teaching segments, but also requires of the students to work more independently in the off weeks.
Meetings will be held on the following dates
April 29
May 12
May 26 NO CLASS DUE TO HOLIDAY; EXTENDED ONLINE SEGMENT
June 9
June 23
July 7
July 21
- Kursleiter:in: Verena Adamik