32103
Advanced Seminar
WiSe 21/22: Utopian Communities in the United States
Maxi Katharina Albrecht
Information for students
As of now, I am planning to teach this course live, barring any new restrictions because of the CoViD-pandemic. Should attending sessions in person not be possible for you, please send an email to maxi.albrecht@fu-berlin.de in the first week of October. close
Additional information / Pre-requisites
While the founding and settlement of the United States has often been described as a utopian project in and of itself, a host of utopian or intentional communities across US history have undertaken political, economic, religious or identity-based projects of living separately from the status quo. From Old Economy village, founded in 1824 in Pennsylvania, to those still existing today such as Twin Oaks, founded 1967 in Virginia, utopian communities challenge the hegemonic ideals of mainstream society from a variety of ideological and socio-cultural vantage points while simultaneously withdrawing from that society in order to seek individual and collective improvement in their own and separate communities. Aside from these real-life utopian projects, fictional texts have experimented with utopian forms of communal living, from Hawthorne’s Blithedale Romance to a multitude of science fiction texts and other literary or media forms. In this course we will explore utopian project across US history and across several fictional texts in order to assess their aims, lifestyles and their relation to mainstream US society. close
Comments
While the founding and settlement of the United States has often been described as a utopian project in and of itself, a host of utopian or intentional communities across US history have undertaken political, economic, religious or identity-based projects of living separately from the status quo. From Old Economy village, founded in 1824 in Pennsylvania, to those still existing today such as Twin Oaks, founded 1967 in Virginia, utopian communities challenge the hegemonic ideals of mainstream society from a variety of ideological and socio-cultural vantage points while simultaneously withdrawing from that society in order to seek individual and collective improvement in their own and separate communities. Aside from these real-life utopian projects, fictional texts have experimented with utopian forms of communal living, from Hawthorne’s Blithedale Romance to a multitude of science fiction texts and other literary or media forms. In this course we will explore utopian project across US history and across several fictional texts in order to assess their aims, lifestyles and their relation to mainstream US society. close
16 Class schedule
Regular appointments
Mon, 2021-10-18 16:00 - 18:00
Mon, 2021-10-25 16:00 - 18:00
Mon, 2021-11-01 16:00 - 18:00
Mon, 2021-11-08 16:00 - 18:00
Mon, 2021-11-15 16:00 - 18:00
Mon, 2021-11-22 16:00 - 18:00
Mon, 2021-11-29 16:00 - 18:00
Mon, 2021-12-06 16:00 - 18:00
Mon, 2021-12-13 16:00 - 18:00
Mon, 2022-01-03 16:00 - 18:00
Mon, 2022-01-10 16:00 - 18:00
Mon, 2022-01-17 16:00 - 18:00
Mon, 2022-01-24 16:00 - 18:00
Mon, 2022-01-31 16:00 - 18:00
Mon, 2022-02-07 16:00 - 18:00
Mon, 2022-02-14 16:00 - 18:00