College Symposium: Utopia/Dystopia

Date: Wednesday, May 31
Time: 1-4 p.m.
Location: Ackerman 210

This interdisciplinary symposium will offer students and faculty the opportunity to present utopia and/or dystopia-related art, research and writing (both creative and critical). It will include panel presentations, roundtable discussions, and a keynote speaker.

Call for proposals, presentations & projects!

CAHSS invites all students and faculty to propose a presentation, project or panel discussion or roundtable.

Have you read a book, written a paper or creative piece, composed artwork, conducted research or participated in a project that engages the theme of “utopia” (or its darker side: “dystopia”)? Please share your work at the symposium!

The symposium is an excellent opportunity for students to practice presenting in an interdisciplinary academic forum, individually or collaboratively. 

Please send a 300-word-or-less proposal to jholmes4@eou.edu. Include the following:

-Name

-Email

-EOU Affiliation (student, faculty, etc.)

-Working title for your presentation

-Description of your proposed symposium contribution

-Number of participants (if you are proposing a collaborative presentation or roundtable discussion/panel)

-Logistical requirements (for example: projector, easel to display art or visual aids, etc.)

Deadline for proposals: May 3rd, 2023

More about the theme of utopia:

Intentional communities, political and philosophical ideologies, economics, religious belief and gender are but a few of the scaffoldings recently used to create assorted visions of a new paradise on earth. The duality inherent in the search for total perfection results in paradoxes and cognitive dissonance. It is said that one person’s utopian heaven is another’s dystopian hell. 

Attempts and attitudes about forming the perfect society have shifted and morphed as old standards and rules are dismantled while others are simultaneously erected. How have utopias been represented and described throughout history? 20th century retro-futurism promoted a post-war western-based utopia rooted in rapid technological advancement and abundance, but how has this been born out in reality and how did this tech- and abundance-based utopian vision fuel American’s collective understanding of themselves and their future?

What are the connections–good or bad–with nostalgia, memory, family or community that fuel this ongoing need for Utopia? What does utopia look like in an increasingly resource-scarce yet globally connected world? What is the value of Utopian thought and action in these cynical times of 2022? What are the lines of communication and cultural exchange for true utopian progress to be made? Is utopia even/ever possible? In the end, is it all just a fantasy?