This book offers an interdisciplinary conversation on utopia clustered around cultural and communication practises in terms of political and ethical projects. It sheds light on cultural and discursive aspects characterising the polysemous concept of utopia conceived as an ongoing process that is put into practice in the present. Against this backdrop, the book raises questions for intellectual work, seeks out an enlightening breach in academic field boundaries, invites a revision of the forms of knowledge production, and encourages pedagogical actions for the development of critical thinking.
This book offers an interdisciplinary conversation on utopia clustered around cultural and communication practises in terms of political and ethical projects. It sheds light on cultural and discursive aspects characterising the polysemous concept of utopia conceived as an ongoing process that is put into practice in the present. Against this backdrop, the book raises questions for intellectual work, seeks out an enlightening breach in academic field boundaries, invites a revision of the forms of knowledge production, and encourages pedagogical actions for the development of critical thinking.
Miriam Bait is an assistant professor and senior lecturer in English language and translation at the Faculty of Humanities, University of Milan, Italy, where she teaches language and communication-related courses. Claudia Gualtieri is an assistant professor and senior lecturer in English literature. She teaches Anglophone cultures, postcolonial studies and cultural studies at the Department of Language Mediation and Intercultural Communication, University of Milan.
Inhaltsangabe
Foreword
Introduction
In Search of Optimism
In Theory
How and Why to Make Space for Utopia in Times of Shipwreck: The Responsibility of the Playwright
Utopian Projections: Urban Spells against the Fury of Exile
The Light-Utopia of Cezanne (Errantry into the Sun)
Cultural Practices
Calling for an End to Indefinite Detention: The Spatial Politics of Refugee Tales
Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea': Humanitarian Missions in the Mediterranean
Contested Memories and Acts of Counter-Commemoration as Temporary Utopian Spaces
Heterotopian Spaces of Feminist Self-Enunciation in Anita Desai's Writings
Resetting the Compass from North to the Souths: Utopian and Dystopian Terrains Surveyed by La Macchina Sognante
Communication Practices
Happiness, Spirituality and Sustainable Development
Gender-inclusive Language as Utopia? German and Italian in Comparison
Augmented Communication through 3D Virtual Reality
Travelling across 'Intensities of Blue beyond very bright Blue': The Language of Dystopian Journeys
