{"id":108,"date":"2017-04-20T13:27:13","date_gmt":"2017-04-20T13:27:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/utrechtutopianetwork.nl\/?p=108"},"modified":"2017-04-27T17:18:50","modified_gmt":"2017-04-27T17:18:50","slug":"utrecht-rma-comparative-literary-studies-masterclass-on-transcultural-utopia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/utrechtutopianetwork.nl\/?p=108","title":{"rendered":"Utrecht RMA Comparative Literary Studies Masterclass on Transcultural Utopia"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"_20170426_161344\"Between February and April 2017, Leonie Brasser, Alice Lambert, Laurence Schaack and Martijn van Gils followed a masterclass with Barnita Bagchi as part of their RMA in Comparative Literary Studies. In this masterclass, the students explored how the transcultural plays out in speculative writing. Beginning with an overview of utopian studies, the students decided to focus on Octavia Butler\u2019s Parable series and produced a preliminary literature review capturing the current research in utopian studies and academic engagement with Butler\u2019s work. Based on this research, the students worked in pairs to produce two collaborative papers, summaries of which can be found below.<\/p>\n

Martijn and Alice\u2019s paper entitled \u201cUnity-Diversity in Octavia Butler\u2019s Parables: Towards a Conceptualisation of Transcultural Utopianism\u201d focuses on \u2018Earthseed\u2019, the alternate philosophical view and religious intervention created by Butler\u2019s protagonist to navigate through the dystopian world she lives in. Drawing on Ernst Bloch\u2019s non-static view of utopia as an essential part of human life, this paper explores how Butler\u2019s Parables present a utopian impulse rooted in mobility and diversity, as well as the lessons and experiences of the past triggered by an anticipatory consciousness of the present. It argues that the Earthseed communities are built in \u2018relation\u2019, bringing Glissant\u2019s vision of m\u00e9tissage (cultural mixing) to bear on the novels. In particular, this paper suggests that Glissant\u2019s comments on m\u00e9tissage and errantry are suitable in illuminating how Butler\u2019s utopian vision is best viewed as a mobile and transcultural construct. The role of religion is central to this discussion, as the belief system Earthseed, itself a composite construct, forms the primary site of utopian vision in the novels. It undergirds the protagonist\u2019s community teaching that individuals gain understanding and agency through their interactions with others. Importantly, this paper notes how Butler\u2019s novels offer a parable for the possibility – even necessity – to bring about more composite and transcultural communities.<\/p>\n

Laurence and Leonie\u2019s paper entitled \u201cOctavia Butler\u2019s Generic Mobility: Working Against Categorisation and Single Visions in the Parables\u201d discusses the generic hybridity of Butler\u2019s novels. Starting from Alessa Johns\u2019 concept of the utopian, feminist tradition, this paper analyses how Butler partly undermines the process-oriented nature of the utopian genre through disrupted social relationships, in particular the mother-daughter bond. Black feminist thought is used to explore the destabilized concept of motherhood and to explain the utopian layer of a dystopian, almost idle relationship. To further this argument, the paper discusses the narrative form that is constructed by an assemblage of media and voices. The multilayered narrative rejects the possibility of aligning Butler\u2019s work with one totalitarian genre and supports the alternation between dystopian and utopian imagery. The introduction of hyperempathy syndrome informs this discussion, as it bears the urgency of endorsing more than one perspective in order to embrace inevitable contradictions and multiplicity. Our paper concludingly posits how Butler\u2019s Parables should not be restrained by a generic direction, but they display that who can love, can also kill: one person\u2019s utopia might be another\u2019s dystopia.<\/p>\n

The students are currently pursuing options to submit their papers to a conference \/ to postgraduate journals.<\/p>\n

As part of their masterclass, the students have also contributed to the development of the Utrecht Utopia Network\u2019s website.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Between February and April 2017, Leonie Brasser, Alice Lambert, Laurence Schaack and Martijn van Gils followed a masterclass with Barnita Bagchi as part of their RMA in Comparative Literary Studies. In this masterclass, the students explored how the transcultural plays out in speculative writing. Beginning with an overview of utopian studies, the students decided to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[15,13,14,10,11,12,16,6],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/utrechtutopianetwork.nl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/utrechtutopianetwork.nl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/utrechtutopianetwork.nl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/utrechtutopianetwork.nl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/utrechtutopianetwork.nl\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=108"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/utrechtutopianetwork.nl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":112,"href":"https:\/\/utrechtutopianetwork.nl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108\/revisions\/112"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/utrechtutopianetwork.nl\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=108"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/utrechtutopianetwork.nl\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=108"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/utrechtutopianetwork.nl\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}