Utopia, Dystopia, Revolution: Speculative Fiction for Social Change

The most memorable works of speculative fiction often deal with visions of utopia and dystopia. Their authors have often been active in and impacted by revolutionary movements, like Zamyatin, Orwell, LeGuin, and Butler.

How can a story of utopia allow us to imagine a better future, without falling into the flatness of perfection? And how do dystopias bring into relief dangers and oppressions of the present moment, without being mere allegory? What about stories of the future that blend elements of both?

This course is for both writers and admirers of speculative fiction. We will start by looking at some of the foundational works of utopia and dystopia, as well as more recent novels in the genre. As the course progresses, everyone will receive support for composing a utopian or dystopian short story of their own. Your composition can take on the medium or format you feel most comfortable with, including written short stories, performed storytelling, an audio recorded story, or a short video. Anyone who wants to take part in critical, thoughtful discussion of the works we read or listen to—including those of their classmates—is welcome to attend.

For people who are not comfortable reading longer texts, audio books will be an option.

Instructor: Peter Gelderloos is the author of over a dozen nonfiction books and numerous essays related to history and the theory and practice of social transformation and worldbuilding in our world, including Worshiping Power: An Anarchist View of Early State Formation and The Solutions Are Already Here: Strategies for Ecological Revolution from Below; the travel memoir To Get to the Other Side; short stories, most recently in the Subversions III anthology; and under the pen name Alan Lea, the recent speculative fiction novella, Hermetica, with more speculative fiction short stories and novels in the works.