Utopia as a driver of change and horizon of innovation
TRANSATLANTIC UTOPIAS: ALTERNATIVE IMAGINARIES BETWEEN SPAIN AND AMERICA
An utopia is an imaginary vision of a better society, difficult to achieve in the present but possible in the future. These ideas inspire collective actions and anticipate alternative scenarios, becoming engines of innovation and historical change. The term "utopia" originated with the work of Thomas More in 1516 and has since transcended literature to permeate the arts, politics, and social projects.
“..., he understood very well that reconstructing the history of community experiences was a way to legitimize the actions of those, like him, who saw these types of communities as the fundamental tool to change the world. For the so-called experimentalists —willing to put their social ideas into practical experimentation by creating communities that applied them day by day— the communities formed by revolutionary militants were a concrete utopia, not projected in imagination or fantasy, but built on the ground: a non-violent way to change society, showing that other forms of organizing and living were possible and, undoubtedly, preferable to the dominant model of inequality, exploitation, misery, and repression.”
Juan Pro y Matteo Parisi, Utopías concretas: el anarquismo trasatlántico de Giovanni Rossi.
(Madrid: Acracia Ediciones, 2022), 13. Instituto de Historia (IH) - CSIC
UtopiAtlantica focuses on the interdisciplinary field of Utopian Studies, examining the role of the transatlantic connection (Europe-America) in the emergence and evolution of utopias as a political-cultural phenomenon of Western modernity. It starts from the hypothesis that America historically functioned as the utopia of Europe, where European utopias found much more favorable conditions for realization; thus, over the centuries, imaginaries of hope, political and social alternatives, and projects for change were projected back and forth across the Atlantic.
Through the historical experience of transatlantic utopias, this project aims to reach theoretical conclusions regarding the functioning of utopia as a mechanism for innovation and guidance of historical change, and to make it available to the public through the Utopias Laboratory to promote the critical creation of new utopias.
The Utopias Laboratory has two functions:
- 1. From the inside out: to display results in accessible formats (map viewer, time line, bibliographic and film repository).
- 2. From the outside in: to create an interactive Utopias Incubator to receive and support proposals from individuals and collectives. All of this aims to foster innovative thinking in response to social, political, and environmental challenges.
P.I.: Juan Pro - IH. CSIC
Coordinator of the Transatlantic Network for the Study of Utopias, of the HISTOPIA Team, and of the Utopias Laboratory, and director of the Journal of Utopian Studies (REUTOPIA). Research Professor at the Institute of History of the CSIC, at the headquarters of the School of Hispano-American Studies in Seville, read more...