| Lerninhalte |
Social and cultural transformations, such as those presently taking place, hardly ever occur without elements of crisis and utopian visions of a post-crisis future. In this module we will therefore explore the theoretical semantics of the terms “crisis,” “utopia,” and “transformation” with special regard to transcultural and ecological change. We will look at various suggestions of designing livable, generationally responsible futures. Special attention will be placed on the democratically dangerous slowness and inertia of crisis repair (which Rob Nixon encapsulated in his term “slow violence”). Attention will be paid to cases of crisis and transformation in American history, e. g. the route from slavery toward emancipation and the Indigenous boarding school experience. Literary examples for a cultural-ecological transformation will be discussed.
For CEC students, this class is one half of their 12 ECTS module “Transformation: Designing Futures” whose second part will be dedicated to your own conceptual group work!
Students are required to download or (better) print a Reader and purchase the following primary texts (print copies):
- William Dean Howells, A Traveler From Altruria (1894). Any edition!
- Octavia Butler, Parable of the Talents (1998). Headline.
- Kim Stanley Robinson, The Ministry for the Future (2020). Orbit.
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