Theories of the future and models of radical political change that characterized modernity seem to have lost much of their purchase in conditions of neo-liberalism. However, to argue that utopianism has disappeared completely would be incorrect. As neo-liberalism has compromised the space for a utopian political imagination, it has simultaneously created conditions for the vivid expression of “cultures of the future”. This seminar will examine the forms these “cultures of the future” take and their place amidst the uncertainty of global capitalism and contemporary politics. Readings for the course will include Ernst Bloch, Herbert Marcuse and Fredric Jameson on utopia; Susan Bucks-Morss on mass culture; Marcel Gauchet on the disenchantment of the world, and selected works by Arjun Appadurai, Paul Gilroy, Slavoj Zizek and others.
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