In an era of planetary crisis, eco-feminist dystopias and utopias offer urgent alternative visions to our collective decline, not only offering a fierce critique of how we live now, but also galvanizing disruptive yet hopeful visions of the future.
We will start the course by exploring the different tenets of ecofeminism and learning about the history and different manifestations of dystopias and utopias.
We will explore the beginning of dystopia with Lord Byron and Mary Shelley. Then we will explore major twentieth century writers such as Octavia Butler, Ursula Le Guin and Starhawk. Themes such as spirituality, indigenous writing, separatism and apocalypse will be considered.
As an alternative to dystopian futures that seem increasingly inevitable, ecofeminist utopias and speculative fiction helps us conjure up other, possibly future worlds utopias that promote a more holistic way of being on the planet, one that supports the equality between human and non-human species.
Classes will involve reading and discussing a range of texts, preceded by daily short lectures, and supplementary theoretical materials relevant to the topics and texts.
This course is part of the Oxford University Summer School for Adults (OUSSA) programme.