Overview

The Revival of Political Imagination offers a unique examination of the methodological aspects of utopia. Discussing utopia as a tool for social criticism, method and imaginative spaces - rather than in terms of its content - this volume analyses the function of utopias, to develop utopias as methodology and to show how instrumental utopian modes of thought can be in such diverse fields such as education, labour, and housing. Including discussions of traditional and contemporary utopias, as well as various forms of expression of utopian hope, from literature to social science and cultural practices, The Revival of Political Imagination is both analytical and practical in its elucidation of how political theory can function to foster our imaginative skills.

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9781786999597

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Reviews

'Rather than follow the scholarship path of non-normative, queer and LGBTIQ+ lives, identities and communities, this book puts organised heteroactivist people, groups, spaces and places at the centre of enquiry. An original and crucial intervention for scholars and activists interested in the shifting and highly charged debates about equality, freedoms, and human rights, that provides new understandings of the way in which societies, space, place and activism are reworked through resistances to LGBTIQ+ legislative, political and social equalities.' Lynda Johnston, University of Waikato 'Emphasizing transnational networks and activisms, Catherine Jean Nash and Kath Browne provide a fascinating guide to the new heteroactivism in countries where many students of anti-LGBTQ backlash assume we have won. ' Cynthia Burack, The Ohio State University 'What an excellent read this is! The authors provide a wealth of insight into heteroactivism in localised contexts, avoiding simplistic religion-related explanations. Critically aware of epistemological geopolitics, this is the book we all should reward ourselves to read.' Dr Roberto Kulpa, Co-editor of De-Centring Western Sexualities: Central and Eastern European Perspectives. 'This chilling and original study offers a timely analysis of contemporary resistances to LGBT equalities across three national English-speaking settings. Attentive to nuance and geopolitical specificity, it shows how growing opposition to LGBT equalities cannot simply be understood as homo or transphobia. Instead, heteroactivists claim that state-sponsored LGBT inclusion in the 21st is a threat to democracy, free speech and Christian heteronormativity. A welcome contribution to the urgently needed and growing field of research on contemporary anti-gender movements, this book provides concepts, methods and questions of relevance beyond the English-speaking global North.' Ulrika Dahl, Uppsala University 'Nash and Browne's pioneering analysis exposes the existence and expansion of resistances against gender and sexual equalities in 'progressive nations'. As an analytical category, Heteroactivism investigates the desire to establish heteronormativities as the bedrock of the Occident. The book is an essential contribution to debates about sexual politics.' Stefanie Boulila, Lucerne University

'A valuable contribution to contemporary scholarly debates in both Utopian Studies and the social sciences more broadly. Its individual case studies provide a wide-ranging and engaging exploration of the contemporary relevance of the imaginative skill of utopian dreaming as a means of facilitating social transformation. * Mark Allison, Ohio Wesleyan University * This vibrant collection covers the bases for a re-energized, re-radicalized utopian political imagination. The contributors offer a fresh and wide-ranging use of the utopian method to imagine social alternatives and shore up collective struggles against global dystopian tendencies. A timely example of the kind of social critique from a utopian point of view we desperately need. * S. D. Chrostowska, York University, Canada * An important contribution to contemporary scholarship on utopian and dystopian theory and practice. * Tom Moylan, University of Limerick *

Author Information

Teppo Eskelinen is Senior lecturer in Development Studies at the University of Jyväskylä, Finland. A philosopher, Eskelinen has also worked as a lecturer in social and public policy. His research interests include political economy and global justice broadly understood, and he has also done research on radical democracy, classics of heterodox economics and economic alternatives.

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