Journal | Annali di Ca’ Foscari. Serie occidentale
Monographic journal issue | 53 | Supplemento | 2019
Progetti per l’Umanità. Rivoluzioni, Utopie e Ingegneria Sociale
open access | peer reviewed-
edited by
- Luca Cortesi - Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia, Italia - email orcid profile
- Cristina Cugnata - Università Ca' Foscari Venezia - email orcid profile
- Lucio De Capitani - Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia, Italia - email orcid profile
- Giulia Frare - Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia, Italia - email orcid profile
- Alice Girotto - Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia, Italia - email
- Serena Vianello - Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia, Italia - email
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 Russian revolution • Paolo Mantegazza • Technocratic culture • Theory of History • Bogdanov • Science fiction • New mythology • H • Human mind • Sexuality • E • Spectacle • Messianism • I • Earthquake • Neoliberal ideology • German Romanticism • Romantic love • South Africa • Freemasonry • Cinema • Technological utopianism • Sublimity • Salfi • Surrogate motherhood • Voltaire • National character • Mission literature • Italian positivism • Schlegel • Jacobinism • Russian identity • Revolution • Utopia • Magazines • Aristotle • F • Socialism • Legitimation crisis • Industrial democracy • PSI • Russian language • Heidegger • Paternalism • Terry Gilliam • Soviet culture • Anthropology • Kinesis • Theatrality • Utopian projects • Soviet Russia • Female reification • Self-management • Barbarity • History • Lingvokul’turologija • Island • Apocalypse • Dystopia • Proletarian writers • Expressionism • Linguistics • Dhlomo • Colony • Middle-class • Patriarchy • Children’s literature • Short story • Calabria • Eschatology • Superstition • Early 20th century • Neoliberalism • Proletkult
Permalink http://doi.org/10.30687/AnnOc/2499-1562/2019/07 | Published Nov. 27, 2019 | Language it, de, en
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.
