Utopias, Radical Politics, and the Political Imaginary

Session Submission Type: Full Paper Panel

Session Description

Increasingly, dystopian visions of the future seem to be dominating political discourses, having a particular purchase in a world defined by the catastrophic effects of the pandemic, global climate change, and extensive and intensive neoliberal practices of “primitive accumulation” and exploitation. In our liberal democracy, we hear constantly about the need to be realistic and clear headed in appraising our current political world, making sure not to stray too far into utopian speculation. Moreover, certain leftist and radical positions are just as suspicious of utopianism, given that the latter seems to assume a pure, neatly defined and static world, one prone to authoritarianism and destruction of difference and diversity. Given the current context, what is the role of utopias and utopian thinking in bringing about radical changes within our global context which can further democracy, difference, and justice?

Etymologically speaking, “utopia” literally means “no place,” and thereby announces its impossibility as a reality. But what if the impossible is what brings the promise of possibility and of social transformation? As Derrida describes in Rogues, democracy is a fundamental absence and impossibility. It is built on an aporia of freedom and equality that points to “democracy-to-come,” which is always the later, utopian fiction upon which we fill with our hopes, desires, and dreams of emancipation. Moreover, maybe the “impossible” utopia is really the most practical of engagements, if, as Oscar Wilde famously claimed, only a utopian figuration allows us to move toward any reform of our political world at all. This panel will attempt to present a variety of different positions on utopias and utopian thinking, looking at both theoretical traditions and practical ideals: Bradley J Macdonald looks at the work of the famous revolutionary socialist and utopian writer, William Morris, via the political theory of Miguel Abensour, in order to clarify the nature of utopian thinking and the way in which it is intimately linked to political action and radical transformation; Michael Lipscomb looks to the way in which both the Hegelian-Marxist and Nietzschean-postmodern traditions of critical theory tarry with important notions of utopia and affirmation in their conceptions of transformation and emancipation; William Sokoloff explores the way in which queer theory can help reconceive a form of radical utopianism that is both antisocial, politically transformative, and open to joy and laughter; Katherine Young looks at vegetarian utopianism as both part of the jargon of authenticity associated with eating well under neoliberal capitalism, and, if suitably reconfigured in an anti-capitalist way, a possible liberatory practice for both humans and animals; and, Michael Forman and Rachel May look closely at the way in which the peace process associated with Commission in Colombia embodies what Ernst Bloch termed a “utopian residue,” one which projects an image of hope and thus has the potential of informing a radical critique of existing society

Sub Unit

• Division 2: Foundations of Political Theory

Individual Presentations

• So the Birds Sing Again: The Reimagining of Democracy in the Wake of Conflict - Michael Forman, University of Washington, Tacoma; Rachel A. May, University of South Florida

• Affirmation and Utopia in the Negative Dialectical and Postmodern Traditions - Michael Lipscomb, Winthrop University

• Vegetarianism as Utopian Figuration - Katherine Young, University of Hawaii at Hilo

• Antipolitics as Utopian Politics - William W. Sokoloff, University of Texas, Rio Grande Valley

Chair

• Bradley J. Macdonald Colorado State University

Discussants

• William L. Niemi Western Colorado University

• Clyde W. Barrow University of Texas Rio Grande Valley