231094 Modern dystopias, fiction and reality, a closer look (StGr) (WiSe 2021/2022)

In this day and age, depictions of dystopias are all around us. In addition, events all around the globe might already give off a dystopian feeling/vibe to some of you. But what makes something dystopian? Why is the dystopia so popular as a motif? Why do some of the global trends feel so dystopian to us? And why do people support ideas that seem dystopian to us? The goal of this study group is to try and answer these questions as a combined effort, with the focus on various examples from fiction - as well as reality. While I have prepared framework texts and examples, I am more than happy to discuss whatever you want to bring to the table. The idea is not that I teach you for one semester, but that we research and analyse as a group. I would be happy to learn from what you can find in some of the examples.

Disclaimer: If possible I would like to avoid Covid as a topic. While I know that it fits really well into this category, discussions of Covid could get way too personal on some cases. Some people have experienced personal hardships over the past years and my goal is not to make anyone relive those. It is also a very polarizing topic and I do not want anyone to feel unpleasant while attending the class, nor do I want to divide the group. Even though I assume that some of our topics might have that effect nonetheless, since dystopia is not a very pleasant or fun topic. However, that does not mean that we cannot try and make it fun to research and analyse examples.