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Ecologies – The Dystopian Present

“Science fiction is not a prediction about the future as much as it is a thought-experiment about the present.” (Ursula Le Guin)

Are representations of dystopian worlds in fiction simply a representation of how we view our planet? In this session we will move on from discussing potential for utopian to living to think more closely about the world we currently live in. Focusing on our ecological world we will look at the rise in popularity of cli-fi, science-fiction writing that deals with the current climate crisis. We will consider whether cli-fi can be used as a tool for change, to whom is addressing and how we can look at climate change from a post-colonial perspective.

Readings: 
Less Than One But More Than Many: Anthropocene as Science Fiction and Scholarship-in-the-Making – Heather Anne Swanson, Nils Bubandt, and Anna Tsing (2015)
Eco-dystopias: Nature and the Dystopian Imagination – Rowland Hughes and Pat Wheeler (2013)
Spider the Artist – Nnedi Okorafor (2011)
Please email hello@sitegallery-staging.b-s.work for a copy of the readings and to book a place

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