{"id":998,"date":"2019-12-07T18:24:17","date_gmt":"2019-12-08T01:24:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/eahgrad\/?p=998"},"modified":"2019-12-07T18:24:17","modified_gmt":"2019-12-08T01:24:17","slug":"utopia-dystopia-and-margaret-atwood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/eahgrad\/2019\/12\/07\/utopia-dystopia-and-margaret-atwood\/","title":{"rendered":"Utopia, Dystopia, and Margaret Atwood"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The idea of Native Americans in space never really occurred to me until coming across a flyer for The Symposium for Just Futures: Speculative Arts and Social Change<\/em>. A red-scarfed Native American woman standing near a pyramid gazed into the grey mountains beyond, a spacecraft in the sky above; the flyer promised science fiction, indigenous futurism, and hearty discussion concerning social change. Interestingly enough, what I found was a presentation on The Handmaid\u2019s Tale<\/em> that compelled me to think more critically about the nature of utopia and dystopia as it relates to our mission as EAH students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Symposium was hosted by the Annares Project<\/em>, a local group dedicated to raising conversations\nand sharing ideas that foster a future free of oppression and exploitation.\nTheir website states: \u201cThe Project is based on the understanding that past,\npresent, and future are not separate.\u201d \nIn other words, multiple futures are constantly coming into existence\nand the Annares Project<\/em> hopes to\nfacilitate the best of those futures. The symposium featured a number of\nspeakers covering a range of topics, but my schedule permitted me only one\nsmall timeslot, Power and Resistance from\nTale to Testaments: The Politics of Margaret Atwood<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have never read nor seen The Handmaid\u2019s Tale<\/em>, written by Atwood. I knew almost nothing about\nit, even including that it was the subject of the presentation. This was good\nbecause I had no expectations or preconceived notions about the story. Instead\nI let the presenters interpret the story, highlight key themes and issues, and\ndescribe the feelings and contemplations that it instilled in them. In this way\nthe story became a case study with the focus more squarely on what the techniques\nand tropes used mean in our world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Presenter Malori Musselman, a Political Science PhD student,\ndescribed the story as a lens for interpreting religion and environmental\ncrisis, to say nothing of totalitarian governance. Readers are meant to connect\nwith the sense of oppression and control. Blame for the crisis is placed on the\nmoral depravity of the lower classes, the gays and women. The story even\nobliges us to embrace dubious heroes, like the Aunt; despite helping to enforce\ngender roles and the status quo, she changes slightly for the good as\ncircumstances shifted around her. Musselman attests that Atwood wrote this book\nto be discussed in symposiums, to have it broken down and analyzed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Symposium for Just Futures<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

But wait, what does this have to do with Native Americans in\nspace?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A keen audience member noticed and inquired about the lack\nof Native American representation as well. Their omission was not lost on\nAtwood nor was that of African Americans. These groups, purposefully excluded,\nbeg to be noticed and questions about their exclusion demand to be asked.\nMusselman explained that our perspectives of the future in this story are\nthrough white women\u2019s eyes, oppressed they may be, but in many ways still a\nmore privileged class. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another commenter wondered why a dystopia? They attested\nthat at the time this story came out, many other positive stories about\nutopias, progress, and change were also reaching the shelves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dystopias and utopias fulfill different roles in our quest\nto imagine a just future. A utopia allows us to design a future scenario where\nthe forces of good win \u2013 human needs are met, oppressed peoples are released\nfrom bondage, and the heart prevails over the industrial machine. They allow us\nto break down the structures in our minds holding us in place and to focus on\nwhat we do want. On one level, dystopias can be thought of as a warning call.\nDystopias generally depict a world where the good guys did not win, or at best\nare struggling to change. The feelings of oppression and moral decay generally\ndirect our attention to what we do not want. However on another level,\ndystopias can challenge us to ask deeper questions about what we do want and\nwhy things are not that way. As Musselman put it, dystopias can help to\nexternalize anger and frustration so that positive action can be taken.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As EAH students we grapple with the polarity of utopia and\ndystopia throughout our studies. Some of us are writing fictions or histories,\nothers are painting and drawing, some of us are even using movement and the\nbody to convey our environmental consciousness. Each one of us has to reconcile\nourselves to the realities of living in an imperfect and unfair world while\ncultivating the peace of mind to champion a just future. This certainly means\nsomething different for everyone, but for me it involves creating mental space to\nreflect on both the utopia I wish to see and the dystopia I hope to avoid.\n\nSo what did any of this have to do with Native\nAmericans in space? Perhaps nothing. Yet Atwood\u2019s politics compel us to ask whose<\/em> perspectives are being highlighted\nand who are our heroes? She challenges us to notice not just what we are\npresented, but who<\/em> is being left out.\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The idea of Native Americans in space never really occurred to me until coming across a flyer for The Symposium for Just Futures: Speculative Arts and Social Change. A red-scarfed Native American woman standing near a pyramid gazed into the grey mountains beyond, a spacecraft in the sky above; the flyer promised science fiction, indigenous… Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10098,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1103788],"tags":[1237643,476,1237641,707809,1385938,155,1237640],"class_list":["post-998","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reflections-on-events","tag-annares-project","tag-corvallis","tag-dystopia","tag-environmental-arts-and-humanities","tag-margaret-atwood","tag-oregon-state-university","tag-utopia"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/eahgrad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/998","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/eahgrad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/eahgrad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/eahgrad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10098"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/eahgrad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=998"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/eahgrad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/998\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1002,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/eahgrad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/998\/revisions\/1002"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/eahgrad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=998"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/eahgrad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=998"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/eahgrad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=998"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}