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Futures and Fictions
Futures and Fictions is a book of essays and conversations that explore possibilities for a different ‘political imaginary’ or, more simply, the imagining and imaging of alternate narratives and image-worlds that might be pitched against the impasses of our neoliberal present. In particular, the book contributes to prescient discussions around decolonization, post-capitalism and new kinds of social movements – exploring the intersections of these with contemporary art practice and visual culture. Contributions range from work on science, sonic and financial fictions and alternative space-time plots to myths and images generated by marginalized and ‘minor’ communities, queer-feminist strategies of fictioning, and the production of new Afro- and other futurisms.Contributors to thsi volume include Ursula K. Le Guin, Theo Reeves-Evisson, Bridget Crone, Kodwo Eshun, Louis Moreno, Laboria Cuboniks, Luciana Parisi, Stefan Helmreich, Mark Fisher, Judy Thorne, Annett Busch, Harold Offeh, Robin Mackay, Elvira Dyangani Ose, Kemang Wa Lehulere, and Oreet Ashery.
411 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 21, 2017
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
August 23, 2023
Quite a mix here, ranging wildly from boring and hard-to-read to imagination-pushing reflections on alternative narrative forms and their implications for combatting the current bleak stagnation of capitalism.
As the rather wordy subtitle of the collection suggests, the main through-argument that connects the essays is that neoliberalism has captured more than just our economy and politics, it has captured our very ability to imagine, to perceive the possibility of a world unlike our own. This curtailing of our imaginary horizons is carried out in numerous ways - count, for example, how much of our social media is dominated by cynically manufactured "culture war" bigotry, or how many UK news outlets parrot bloodthirsty American propaganda on their various cold and hot wars throughout the world (what's that? It's all of them? How shocking...). Perhaps news and social media was too obvious an example; as someone who worked as a secondary teacher and saw from above the politics and history curriculum, let me add that the narrowing of horizons through certain points of misinformation and the careful selection of narratives is certainly not relegated to the news sphere - though of course, the way students engaged with their curricula was also shaped by their own social media usage (messy!). None of the ways above are the lens that this collection chooses to focus on, however. Rather, again given away by the title, it is focused on how the fictions and futures we are presented reflects our reality like a mirror. Or perhaps a better metaphor is a pair of mirrors facing each other?
I won't linger too much on the individual essays - honestly most of them have the same problem of stubbornly refusing to be easily comprehended and treating inaccessibility and needless confusion as an intellectual virtue (a polite way of putting it). Thanks largely to this, as a whole, the collection is really a 3 stars, but I'm intrigued enough by some of the essays, and sympathetic to the purpose of the project, that I'll err generously to four. It certainly helped that it ends on a wonderful short story by Ursula K Le Guin that is the real gem of the collection. Other essays I'd highlight:
Stages, Plots and Traumas by Robin Mackay. I found this one particularly interesting, managing to break down some really interesting concepts while also being one of the most readable in my opinion.
Luxary Communism, Mark Fisher and Judy Thorn. Interesting, and one of the more accessible entries. The ideas aren't particularly exciting/new, nor are they fleshed out, but still are worth reflecting on.
Xenofeminism: a Politics for Alienation by Laboria Cuboniks. A great collection of snippets, reflections, and insights. Does have the problem of most of the essays in that language choice obscures rather than reveals its meaning, but to a far lesser extent and balanced well with a clear purpose that makes engaging with it worthwhile.
As the rather wordy subtitle of the collection suggests, the main through-argument that connects the essays is that neoliberalism has captured more than just our economy and politics, it has captured our very ability to imagine, to perceive the possibility of a world unlike our own. This curtailing of our imaginary horizons is carried out in numerous ways - count, for example, how much of our social media is dominated by cynically manufactured "culture war" bigotry, or how many UK news outlets parrot bloodthirsty American propaganda on their various cold and hot wars throughout the world (what's that? It's all of them? How shocking...). Perhaps news and social media was too obvious an example; as someone who worked as a secondary teacher and saw from above the politics and history curriculum, let me add that the narrowing of horizons through certain points of misinformation and the careful selection of narratives is certainly not relegated to the news sphere - though of course, the way students engaged with their curricula was also shaped by their own social media usage (messy!). None of the ways above are the lens that this collection chooses to focus on, however. Rather, again given away by the title, it is focused on how the fictions and futures we are presented reflects our reality like a mirror. Or perhaps a better metaphor is a pair of mirrors facing each other?
I won't linger too much on the individual essays - honestly most of them have the same problem of stubbornly refusing to be easily comprehended and treating inaccessibility and needless confusion as an intellectual virtue (a polite way of putting it). Thanks largely to this, as a whole, the collection is really a 3 stars, but I'm intrigued enough by some of the essays, and sympathetic to the purpose of the project, that I'll err generously to four. It certainly helped that it ends on a wonderful short story by Ursula K Le Guin that is the real gem of the collection. Other essays I'd highlight:
Stages, Plots and Traumas by Robin Mackay. I found this one particularly interesting, managing to break down some really interesting concepts while also being one of the most readable in my opinion.
Luxary Communism, Mark Fisher and Judy Thorn. Interesting, and one of the more accessible entries. The ideas aren't particularly exciting/new, nor are they fleshed out, but still are worth reflecting on.
Xenofeminism: a Politics for Alienation by Laboria Cuboniks. A great collection of snippets, reflections, and insights. Does have the problem of most of the essays in that language choice obscures rather than reveals its meaning, but to a far lesser extent and balanced well with a clear purpose that makes engaging with it worthwhile.
April 18, 2020
Delightful
July 1, 2021
3.5 Stars
Very much a mix bag. For every chapter that caught my interest, there was one that bored me to tears.
Very much a mix bag. For every chapter that caught my interest, there was one that bored me to tears.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews