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Between July 3-5, 2024, Central European University’s Democracy Institute will be hosting the 24th Annual Conference of the Utopian Studies Society/Europe. The main theme of this year’s conference is “Utopia and Democracy”, and it is organized by members of the “Democracy in East Central European utopianism” research group.
In everyday parlance utopia usually has negative connotations. The academics of this conference prefer to look at the various phenomena of utopianism as manifestations of the wishing nature of humans, forms of social and political criticism and an instance where imagination and dynamism may enter social and political thought.
Key topics of the conference are:
- Democratic structures and utopian social or literary imaginaries;
- Utopian and political literature;
- Democratic elements of utopias/dystopias in contemporary popular culture;
- Democratization of utopias/dystopias and environmental humanities;
- Minoritarian (sexual, racial, natural) utopian/dystopian imaginaries;
- Utopianism and democracy in Central and Eastern Europe.
The conference will feature the following keynote speakers: Nicole Pohl – Professor Emerita in Early Modern Literature and Critical Theory at Oxford Brookes University, who will give a talk about patriotism and democracy in a historical context; Nathalie Vanfasse – Professor of English at Aix-Marseille Université, who will discuss how Victorian literature addresses economic issues in relation to democracy; while Professor György Majtényi – social historian at Károly Eszterházy University in Eger will address the implications of the luxurious lifestyle of the state socialist ruling elite in Hungary.
Organized by the European branch of the Utopian Studies Society, the conference will welcome around 130 participants from 5 continents. The organizers of the conference aim to enrich the intellectual history of the concept of democracy by drawing attention to its relationship with various forms of utopianism, through interdisciplinary panels, consisting of literary scholars, historians, social scientists and philosophers. In addition to our panels and keynotes, during the conference, our participants and guests will be able to visit two exhibitions - an art installation by Slovenian artist Saša Spačal titled ‘MycoMythologies: Patterning’, and an exhibition by Hungarian architect Zsófia F. Szántay titled ‘Egalopolis – In pursuit of architectural utopias’ on display at CEU’s Open gallery (Nádor utca 11) from 1-15 July, 2024. Moreover, the conference will feature workshops and an artist roundtable on environmental activism.
The event is supported by Central European University’s Democracy Institute and the Gerda Henkel Foundation.
For more information, contact the organizers at: usse2024@ceu.edu or visit the conference website.
The official language of the conference is English.