Journal |
Annali di Ca’ Foscari. Serie occidentale
Monographic journal issue | 53 | Supplemento | 2019
Progetti per l’Umanità. Rivoluzioni, Utopie e Ingegneria Sociale (Projects for Humankind. Revolutions, Utopias and Social Engineering) explores a variety of plans and attempts to transform human beings into something different and better. In particular, it engages with utopian thinking and its ineludible counterpart, dystopia; with moments of political, cultural or philosophical revolution aimed at triggering profound shifts in human life; and with different projects of social engineering to be accomplished through a variety of means such as education, propaganda or alterations to the human body or mind. The case studies included in this volume range from the 18th century to the present day, and involve disciplines such as literary and film studies, philosophy, political science and cultural history. In particular, the volume features essays on the following topics: mythology in German Romanticism; Martin Heidegger’s eschatology; Francesco Saverio Salfi’s essay on the 1783 earthquake in Calabria; the scapigliati writers Carlo Dossi and Giovanni Faldella; the utopian production of positivist anthropologist Paolo Mantegazza; the Proletkul’t movement; early Soviet children’s magazines; the political implications of Russian linguaculturology (lingvokul’turologija); Lafayette Ronald Hubbard’s Dianetics; Zulu intellectual and writer Herbert Dhlomo’s speculative fiction; “self-management” (autogestione) and the Italian Socialist Party in the 1970s; the current debate on surrogate motherhood; and Terry Gilliam’s dystopian film trilogy. Through these multiple perspectives, the volume argues that human projectuality is an anthropological constant throughout history that is both necessary for human existence and simultaneously fraught with dangers; and that it is therefore a crucial category to analyse reality and fiction alike.
Keywords Human mind • Technocratic culture • Apocalypse • Kinesis • Patriarchy • Revolution • Schlegel • Self-management • Children’s literature • Messianism • Salfi • Russian language • Heidegger • Linguistics • Lingvokul’turologija • Legitimation crisis • Paolo Mantegazza • Dystopia • Spectacle • Cinema • Earthquake • Socialism • Romantic love • PSI • Sublimity • Proletarian writers • Dhlomo • Anthropology • Surrogate motherhood • Terry Gilliam • Voltaire • Superstition • Russian revolution • Utopian projects • History • Soviet culture • F • Neoliberal ideology • Paternalism • Science fiction • H • Italian positivism • Industrial democracy • Expressionism • Utopia • Middle-class • Proletkult • Sexuality • Theatrality • Jacobinism • Soviet Russia • Technological utopianism • Short story • Early 20th century • Russian identity • Calabria • Freemasonry • Theory of History • Neoliberalism • Eschatology • National character • E • Mission literature • Barbarity • South Africa • Aristotle • Female reification • I • Colony • Magazines • Island • New mythology • German Romanticism • Bogdanov
Permalink http://doi.org/10.30687/AnnOc/2499-1562/2019/07 | Published Nov. 27, 2019 | Language it, en, de
Copyright © Luca Cortesi, Cristina Cugnata, Lucio De Capitani, Giulia Frare, Alice Girotto, Serena Vianello. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.