Society for Utopian Studies 2024 Conference: Full Schedule

1:00pm EDT

1.2 The Utopian Activist in the Modern World

Thursday October 17, 2024 1:00pm - 2:30pm EDT

Chair: John Barberet, Polk State College
● Hannah Rudderham, University of Ottawa
Searching for Alternatives in Progressive-Era Canada: Recovering Alice Chown as a
Utopian Activist
● María Sierra, Universidad de Sevilla/University of Seville (Spain)
Transitar de lo gitano a lo romaní, performar una utopía post-racial: el caso de Ionel
Rotaru (1960s-1970s) /Transiting from ‘Gypsy’ to Roma, performing a post-racial utopia:
the case of Ionel Rotaru (1960s-1970s)
● Pawel Maciejko, he/him, Johns Hopkins University
Messianic Utopia of Sabbatai Tsevi

Moderators

John Barberet

Polk State College

Speakers

Hannah Rudderham

University of Ottawa

Maria Sierra

Universidad de Sevilla/University of Seville

Pawel Maciejko

Professor, Johns Hopkins University

Thursday October 17, 2024 1:00pm - 2:30pm EDT
Tulum B

Panel

2:45pm EDT

2.2 Roundtable: Searching for transatlantic utopias: alternative imaginaries between Europe and America / Buscando utopías trasatlánticas: imaginarios alternativos entre Europa y América [In Spanish/en Espanol]

Thursday October 17, 2024 2:45pm - 4:15pm EDT

Tulum B

Chair: Juan Pro, EEHA/IH, CSIC, Seville
● Juan Pro, EEHA/IH, CSIC, Seville
● Francisco José Martínez Mesa, Universidad Complutense de Madrid
● Julia Ramirez-Blanco, Universidad Complutense de Madrid
● Elisabetta Di Minico, Universidad Complutense de Madrid
● Iria Gómez del Castillo Dávila, Instituto de Historia/Consejo Superior de Investigaciones
Científicas

Speakers

Juan Pro

EEHA/IH, CSIC, Seville

Juan Pro is coordinator of the Spanish research team HISTOPIA, director of the Revista de Estudios Utópicos [Journal of Utopian Studies] and coordinator of the Transatlantic Network for the Study of Utopias. He currently directs the UtopiAtlantica project (Transatlantic Utopias... Read More →

Francisco José Martínez Mesa

Universidad Complutense de Madrid

Julia Ramirez-Blanco

Universidad Complutense de Madrid

Elisabetta Di Minico

Universidad Complutense de Madrid

Iria Gómez del Castillo Dácvila

Instituto de Historia/Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas

Thursday October 17, 2024 2:45pm - 4:15pm EDT
Tulum B

Roundtable, Spanish Language

4:30pm EDT

3.2 In Search of an Ideal Locale: Utopic Spaces

Thursday October 17, 2024 4:30pm - 6:00pm EDT

Tulum B

Chair: Kenneth Roemer, University of Texas at Arlington

Richard Simpson, University of Maine, Presque Isle
The Production of Space as a Pedagogical Practice
Katherine (Kate) Hilts, Independent Scholar
Resort, Utopia, Dystopia: Neocolonialism in Caribbean Luxury Travel
Jared Rusnak, University of Pennsylvania
From Complacency to Emplacement: Pursuing Utopic Places Through the Flesh
Katherine Hampsten, St. Mary's University
Tracing Utopia: Insights from the Works and Locales of William Morris & C. R. Ashbee

Moderators

Kenneth Roemer

University of Texas at Arlington

Speakers

Richard Simpson

University of Maine, Presque Isle

Katherine Hilts

Independent Scholar

Jared Rusnak

University of Pennsylvania

katherine hampsten

St. Mary's University

Thursday October 17, 2024 4:30pm - 6:00pm EDT
Tulum B

Panel

8:30am EDT

4.2 Embodied Utopias: Dancing, Walking, Singing, Creating

Friday October 18, 2024 8:30am - 10:00am EDT

Tulum B

Chair: Phil Wegner, University of Florida

Dora Alcocer Walbey, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos
Utopian Practices of Dwell by Walking
K. Allison Hammer, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale
Exuberant Embodiment: A Trans Utopia for an Unbearable Present
Ian McIntosh, Indiana University, Indianapolis
The Very First Pilgrimage, An Inspired Trajectory Out of Africa to Australia

Moderators

Phil Wegner

University of Florida

Speakers

Dora Alcocer Walbey

Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos

K. Allison Hammer

Southern Illinois University, Carbondale

Ian Mcintosh

Indiana University, Indianapolis

Friday October 18, 2024 8:30am - 10:00am EDT
Tulum B

Panel

10:15am EDT

5.2 Queer, Trans, and Feminist Utopias in Global Short Fiction

Friday October 18, 2024 10:15am - 11:45am EDT

Tulum B

Chair: Ashley Moser, University of Konstanz
Kyle Rubini, Toronto Metropolitan University
Rewriting the Utopian Gaybourhood
Gretchen Murphy, University of Texas at Austin
Charlie Jane Anders and the Queer Trans Postapocalyptic Utopia
Amrita Chakraborty, Cornell University
“Do You Really Want to Know?”: Mapping Queer, Trans, and Femme South Asian Futures and Counter-Histories

Moderators

Ashley Moser

University of Konstanz

Speakers

Kyle Rubini

Toronto Metropolitan University

Gretchen Murphy

University of Texas at Austin

Amrita Chakraborty

PhD Candidate, Cornell University

Friday October 18, 2024 10:15am - 11:45am EDT
Tulum B

Panel

1:30pm EDT

6.2 Time for Critique: Nostalgia, Futurity, and the Now

Friday October 18, 2024 1:30pm - 3:00pm EDT

Tulum B

Chair: Mark Allison, Ohio Wesleyan University

Daniel Nunes, University of Ottawa
Reading Engels’ Critique of Utopian Socialism Through the Lens of Miguel Abensour
Matthew Hodgetts, Case Western Reserve University
Fear and the “Uncritical” Utopias of the Alt-Right New Media
Olivia Conway, Duke University
The (Dystopian) Future is Female: Radical Optimism and Apocalyptic Literature

Moderators

Mark Allison

Ohio Wesleyan University

Speakers

Daniel Nunes

University of Ottawa

Daniel Nunes has recently started his PhD in philosophy at the University of Ottawa. His research focuses on utopian literature as a mode of political philosophy.

Matthew Hodgetts

Case Western Reserve University

Olivia Conway

Duke University

Friday October 18, 2024 1:30pm - 3:00pm EDT
Tulum B

Panel

3:15pm EDT

7.2 Roundtable: Liberatory Practices on Communal Safety

Friday October 18, 2024 3:15pm - 4:45pm EDT

Tulum B

Chair: Patricia Ventura, Spelman College
Lauren Guilmette, Elon University
Julianne Liebenguth, Elon University
Leyla Savloff, Elon University

Moderators

patricia ventura

Spelman College

Speakers

Lauren Guilmette

Elon University

Julianne Liebenguth

Elon University

Leyla Savloff

Elon University

Friday October 18, 2024 3:15pm - 4:45pm EDT
Tulum B

Roundtable

8:30am EDT

8.2 The Shapes of Utopia: Genre, Form, Style

Saturday October 19, 2024 8:30am - 10:00am EDT

Tulum B

Chair: Jennifer Wagner-Lawlor, Penn State University
Thomas Horan, The Citadel
Hope and Empathy in Alistair McDowall’s Pomona
Kenneth Roemer, University of Texas at Arlington
Meet the “More Immediate and Intense” Ursula K. Le Guin: Celebrating the First Comprehensive Collection of Her Poetry
Diana Palardy, Independent Scholar
Strange Bedfellows: Green Bank as a Utopian Enclave for Bank-to-the-Landers, Electrosensitives, and Neo-Nazis
Kako Koshino, Mejiro University
Precarious Whiteness in Japan’s English Teaching Industry

Moderators

Jennifer Wagner-Lawlor

Penn State University

Speakers

Thomas Horan

The Citadel

Kenneth Roemer

University of Texas at Arlington

Diana Palardy

Independent Scholar

Kako Koshino

Mejiro University

Saturday October 19, 2024 8:30am - 10:00am EDT
Tulum B

Panel

10:15am EDT

9.2 Neurology, Memory, and Consciousness, or How the Psyche Haunts Us

Saturday October 19, 2024 10:15am - 11:45am EDT

Tulum B

Chair: Tracy Rutler, Penn State University
Ellen Rigsby, Saint Mary's College of California
Panarchy as a Political Form of Collective Consciousness
Darren Dillman, New Mexico Junior College
The Role of Memory in Dystopian Fiction
Jennifer Wagner-Lawlor, Penn State University
“Scaling the Treachery”: Dystopian Incommensurabilities and Narrative Self-Sovereignty in John Lanchaster’s The Wall

Moderators

Tracy Rutler

Associate Professor, Penn State University

Speakers

Ellen Rigsby

Professor of Communication, St. Mary’s College of California

Ellen M. Rigsby received her Ph.D. in Rhetoric in 2001 at UC Berkeley, after earning a B.A. in Political Philosophy from Johns Hopkins in 1991. She is a Professor in Communication at Saint Mary's College of California. Her areas of teaching are at the intersection of theories of the... Read More →

Darren Dillman

Instructor of Faculty, San Carlos Apache College

Jennifer Wagner-Lawlor

Penn State University

Saturday October 19, 2024 10:15am - 11:45am EDT
Tulum B

Panel

1:30pm EDT

10.2 Black Utopianism: Responding to Racial Dystopias Past and Present

Saturday October 19, 2024 1:30pm - 3:00pm EDT

Tulum B

Chair: Matthew Hodgetts, Case Western Reserve University
John Michael, University of Rochester
Decolonizing Utopia: Exploring Desire and the Dream of Violence in Frantz Fanon
Patricia Ventura, Spelman College, and Edward Chan, Waseda University
New Black Horror and Racial Dystopia
Jeffrey Tucker, University of Rochester
Characterization and the Critical Utopia: Gabriel Bump's The New Natural

Moderators

Panel