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2016

Utopia

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Articles 1 - 19 of 19

Full-Text Articles in Arts and Humanities

Utopia In Progress In Di Prima's Revolutionary Letters, Estíbaliz Encarnación-Pinedo Dec 2016

Utopia In Progress In Di Prima's Revolutionary Letters, Estíbaliz Encarnación-Pinedo

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In her article "Utopia in Progress in di Prima's Revolutionary Letters" Estíbaliz Encarnación-Pinedo describes Diane di Prima's Revolutionary Letters (1971) within the context of social transformation and spatiality studies. In the context of the socio-political revolt and utopian revival of the 1970s, di Prima's utopia is grounded in reality and in progress; and it needs people's help and strength to be attained. In the first section of the article Pinedo analyzes a group of letters which serve as "tips" or a "how-to" guide to prepare for a revolution and in the second part she considers letters in which glimpses …


Interface: Fringe Landscapes And Identity, Elizabeth T. Lewin Dec 2016

Interface: Fringe Landscapes And Identity, Elizabeth T. Lewin

Theses and Dissertations

An MFA thesis that weaves together: virtual landscapes, escapism, Theresa Hak Kyung Cha, utopia, family, and identity.


Littérature Congolaise : Imaginaire Et Miroir De L’Urgence Sociale, Ngwarsungu Chiwengo Dec 2016

Littérature Congolaise : Imaginaire Et Miroir De L’Urgence Sociale, Ngwarsungu Chiwengo

Présence Francophone: Revue internationale de langue et de littérature

Congolese literature of urgency is the historical conscience which informs the conscience of history, a therapeutic medium which allows the reader to transcend national trauma and to articulate the future. As the foundation of the metadiscourse of Congolese realities, it is the counter-discourse of Western and national cultural domination, the erasure of the national voice, the traumatism of dictatorships, invasions, and political and social conflicts maintained. It therefore condemns theological, political domination and advocates for nationalism, the reconstruction of Congolese identity while affirming Congolese desire to auto-determine their future in a country where truth is extirpated from political euphemisms.


Urgence Du Social Et Dimension Utopique Du Roman Africain. Une Lecture De Pacte De Sang De Pius Ngandu Nkashama, Kasereka Kavwahirehi Dec 2016

Urgence Du Social Et Dimension Utopique Du Roman Africain. Une Lecture De Pacte De Sang De Pius Ngandu Nkashama, Kasereka Kavwahirehi

Présence Francophone: Revue internationale de langue et de littérature

This article shows how the urgency of the social in the francophone novel goes with a utopian dimension. It is suggested that if the African novel reveals the flaws and faults of the social and political body that the censorship attempts somehow to hide, if it has the power to dismantle the mechanism of violence, it also has the power to provide the vision of another possible world. Thus, the novel of disillusionment may be secretly the book of enchantment and utopia.


Jules Verne Constructs America: From Utopia To Dystopia, Dana L. Radu Sep 2016

Jules Verne Constructs America: From Utopia To Dystopia, Dana L. Radu

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In my dissertation, I examine visions of the United States in Jules Verne’s (1828-1905) Voyages extraordinaires (1863-1905). Of the sixty-four novels that make up that series, twenty-three, over one-third, feature American characters or take place on American soil. I demonstrate that in his early novels (1863-1886), he presents the United States in an optimistic and utopian light, while in his later novels (1887-1905), his depictions of the United States take on a pessimistic and dystopian aspect. In also showing that Verne had been influenced by utopian socialists Henri de Saint-Simon (1760-1825), Charles Fourier (1772-1837) and Étienne Cabet (1788-1856), I provide …


Eugenia En Su Contexto: Utopía Y Proyecto Alterno De Nación, Miguel García Sep 2016

Eugenia En Su Contexto: Utopía Y Proyecto Alterno De Nación, Miguel García

Alambique. Revista académica de ciencia ficción y fantasía / Jornal acadêmico de ficção científica e fantasía

En fechas recientes la novela Eugenia: esbozo novelesco de costumbres futuras (Mérida, 1919), escrita por el doctor, funcionario público y pedagogo Eduardo Urzaiz, se ha vuelto una pieza clave para entender la ciencia ficción mexicana y latinoamericana, al ser uno de los ejemplos tempranos de especulaciones futuristas y por integrar en su discurso a la eugenesia, una ciencia alrededor de la cual se desarrolló un movimiento global cuyos alcances se siguen mapeando hoy en día. Sin embargo, dos problemas principales han impedido el entendimiento cabal de la novela: 1) una insuficiente comprensión de la relevancia de las ideas eugenésicas …


Counterfeit Letters And Fictional Trials: Thomas More’S Utopia As Cultural Brand, Andie Silva Aug 2016

Counterfeit Letters And Fictional Trials: Thomas More’S Utopia As Cultural Brand, Andie Silva

Publications and Research

Utilizing marketing theory on iconic brands, this article provides a focused study of surviving English editions of Thomas More's Utopia (1551) and the different ways in which the publication was adapted by its print agents, who eventually turned it into an iconic, English brand-name. By drawing a connection between the popularity and versatility of More’s text and the rapidly developing genre of utopian fiction, this article sheds light on the speed with which the press both reacted to and played a role in creating popular taste.


Haiti And The Heavens: Utopianism And Technocracy In The Cold War Era, Adam M. Silvia Jun 2016

Haiti And The Heavens: Utopianism And Technocracy In The Cold War Era, Adam M. Silvia

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examined technocracy in Haiti in the Cold War era. It showed how Haitian and non-Haitian technicians navigated United States imperialism, Soviet ideology, and postcolonial nationalism to implement bold utopian visions in a country oppressed by poverty and dynastic authoritarianism. Throughout the mid-to-late twentieth century, technicians lavished Haiti with plans to improve the countryside, the city, the workplace, and the home. This study analyzed those plans and investigated the motivations behind them. Based on new evidence discovered in the private correspondence between Haitian, American, and Western European specialists, it questioned the assumption that technocracy was captivated by high-modernist ideology …


The Chronicles Of Autzen, Trayevion Maurice Satterwhite Jun 2016

The Chronicles Of Autzen, Trayevion Maurice Satterwhite

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

My statement of purpose covers the story I have been writing as well as my journey on how I got to where I am today. The beginning is an introduction to the entirety of my work. From there, it goes into my personal life, and what inspired me to write in the first place. As it is read through, the reader will get hints of harsh times in life, the elements of history, and the inspiration of the literature of video games. With all of these elements combined, it explains the purpose of my writing being closely entwined with dealing …


Constitutional Utopianism, Susan N. Herman Apr 2016

Constitutional Utopianism, Susan N. Herman

UTOPIA500

The sixth and final UTOPIA500 presentation was April 21, 2016. Professor Susan Herman, Centennial Professor of Law at Brooklyn Law School and President of the American Civil Liberties Union, received the official "Me and Tommy More" polo shirt from Dr. Michael P. Malloy, organizer of the UTOPIA500 project. Professor Herman delivered a presentation on Constitutional Utopianism. She explored the literary devices that More employed as narrative strategies in Utopia, and argued that his intention may have been to give focus to discussion about important issues of governance and societal structures, rather than to provide definitive answers. Professor Herman also compared …


St. Thomas More And His Utopia In Antebellum American Lawyer's Thought, Michael H. Hoeflich Apr 2016

St. Thomas More And His Utopia In Antebellum American Lawyer's Thought, Michael H. Hoeflich

UTOPIA500

The fifth UTOPIA500 presentation was April 7, 2016 about St. Thomas More and his Utopia in Antebellum American Lawyers' Thought. A former dean at Kansas Law and a renowned historian of colonial and pre-Civil War America, Professor Michael H. Hoeflich is also a fellow of the Royal Historical Society. He explored the publication history of More's UTOPIA, and the extent to which editions of the book were available in antebellum America. Professor Hoeflich noted that the novel, as a work of "politics," was well known by the likes of Jefferson, Madison, and John Adams, but its influence thereafter ebbed and …


To Utopianize The Mundane: Sound And Image In Country Musicals, Siyuan Ma Mar 2016

To Utopianize The Mundane: Sound And Image In Country Musicals, Siyuan Ma

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Many consider music, songs, and dance performance as utopian signifiers for cinema, but few has entered the utopian discourse of country musicals, a small genre of cinema usually known as country music films. By closely scrutinizing Pure Country (1992), this thesis aims to reveal how country music—as music numbers and as background cues— integrate and connect the fragmented on-screen world for the country musicals so as to offer audiences a fullness of utopian experience, and how this utopian effect are culturally significant for American audiences due to country music’s unique mechanism of constructing utopia and nostalgia in its past-orientations, sentimentalities, …


The Communisitic Inclinations Of Sir Thomas More, David Papke Mar 2016

The Communisitic Inclinations Of Sir Thomas More, David Papke

UTOPIA500

The fourth UTOPIA500 presentation was march 10, 2016. Dr. David R. Papke, Professor of Law at Marquette University Law School, received an official "Me and Tommy More" polo shirt from Dr. Malloy. Dr. Papke then spoke about The Communistic Inclinations of Sir Thomas More. A well-known scholar of legal history and law in popular culture, Dr. Papke noted the affinity that existed between the themes in Utopia and the views of Karl Marx as well as those of leaders of the Bolshevik Revolution. He also explored the problem of competing approaches to literary analysis and criticism - whether to seek …


Aristotle's Ideal Regime As Utopia, Steven Thomason Mar 2016

Aristotle's Ideal Regime As Utopia, Steven Thomason

Presentations and Lectures

Although Aristotle’s ideal regime discussed in books seven and eight of his Politics seems much more feasible and less utopian than the regime outlined in Plato’s Republic, a few scholars have questioned its feasiblity in light of the real world demands of politics. Similarly, I argue that carefully considered his ideal regime turns-out not to be feasible or a practical recommendation for politics, but rather a thought experiment like Plato’s Republic meant to show the limitations of what is politically achievable. I do so by comparing his ideal regime to his prior discussions of democracy in the earlier books of …


Legal Personhood In More's Utopia, Andreea Boboc Feb 2016

Legal Personhood In More's Utopia, Andreea Boboc

UTOPIA500

The third UTOPIA500 presentation was Feb. 25, 2016. Dr. Andreea D. Boboc, English professor in the College of the Pacific, received an official "Me and Tommy More" polo shirt from McGeorge's Dean Francis J. Mootz III. She then spoke about Legal Personhood in More's Utopia. A published scholar of medieval English literature, Dr. Boboc explored how the fluidity and multiple jurisdictional levels of law in late medieval England shaped personhood. She had a compelling and provocative interchange with the Law and Literature students.


More’S Utopia And Income Insecurity, Daniel J. Morrissey Feb 2016

More’S Utopia And Income Insecurity, Daniel J. Morrissey

UTOPIA500

The second UTOPIA500 presentation was Feb. 11, 2016. Daniel J. Morrissey, Professor of Law and Dean emeritus at Gonzaga University School of Law, received an official "Me and Tommy More" polo shirt from Dr. Malloy at the beginning of the talk. Professor Morrissey then spoke about More's Utopia and Income Inequality. A published scholar of corporate securities law and jurisprudence, Professor Morrissey identified legal, political, and moral issues about social and economic inequality in late medieval England, as reflected in More's Utopia, and discussed the continuing relevance of those issues today. He sparked an animated discussion with the Law and …


The Virtue Mentality, Rachel Eckhardt Feb 2016

The Virtue Mentality, Rachel Eckhardt

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In my study of early feminist fiction and contemporary queer intentional communities, highly ambitious and nearly impossible aspirations emerged as a singular uniting theme. From early feminist novelists to the intrepid founders of lesbian lands, utopian women share a passionate commitment to transform the world. This thesis engages with feminist concepts of virtue and how they influence utopian projects in both fiction and in life, whether the word “virtue” itself is used to describe the project or not. Virtue has made a lasting impact on contemporary feminist utopian projects that sometimes creates conflict and often undermines its liberatory aspirations. When …


Utopia And The Law And Literature Movement, Michael P. Malloy Jan 2016

Utopia And The Law And Literature Movement, Michael P. Malloy

UTOPIA500

Dr. Malloy kicked off the UTOPIA500 project with a presentation on Jan. 21, 2016. His paper, Utopia and the Law and Literature Movement, marked the quincentennial of the publication of Thomas More's novel Utopia in 1516. Dr. Malloy explored the meaning and implications of the concepts of utopia and dystopia. He argued, with colorful graphic support, that More's novel was a precursor to post-modernist literature, and that in our own time there has been a linguistic transformation of the concept of utopia to contemporary meanings that are often entirely independent of More's novel. Dr. Malloy concluded that More's novel is …


The Somewhere We Wish Were Nowhere: Dystopian Realities And (Un)Democratic Imaginaries, Benjamin B. Taylor Jan 2016

The Somewhere We Wish Were Nowhere: Dystopian Realities And (Un)Democratic Imaginaries, Benjamin B. Taylor

Senior Independent Study Theses

How do political practices influence mass culture? Conversely, how does mass culture influence political practice? This project addresses these questions by turning to the concepts of utopia and dystopia. Imagined utopic and dystopic visions express both the hopes and anxieties of the societies producing them. Dystopias also highlight the mechanisms of power that function within particular social orders. Through readings of Lois Lowry’s The Giver and Phillip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, I demonstrate how utopia and dystopia function and how we can respond to dystopic realities by theorizing solutions that are more conducive to the …