Settler utopias: Rebecca Weaver-Hightower, Musab Bajaber, ‘Utopia, the Imperial Settler Utopia, and Imperial Settler Science Fiction’, in Cathy Shrank, Phil Withington (eds), The Oxford Handbook of Thomas More’s Utopia, Oxford University Press, 2023, pp. 553–566 | settler colonial studies blog

Settler utopias: Rebecca Weaver-Hightower, Musab Bajaber, ‘Utopia, the Imperial Settler Utopia, and Imperial Settler Science Fiction’, in Cathy Shrank, Phil Withington (eds), The Oxford Handbook of Thomas More’s Utopia, Oxford University Press, 2023, pp. 553–566

23Dec23

Abstract: This chapter argues that Utopia is groundbreaking because it established the notion of ‘imperial settler utopias’ that influence attempted and fantasized manifestations of utopianism. Unlike settler utopias that are isolated and focused on inward development, imperial settler utopias—whether real or fictional—are settler colonies so entranced by their own ideals that they envision themselves as predestined to be dominant on the merit of their superiority. The interaction between fictional and attempted imperial settler utopias is cyclical. More’s Utopia influenced the development of real-world imperial settler utopian colonies and in return these colonies, combined with the legacy of Utopia, contributed to the rise of literary genres that extrapolate on imperial settler colonialism. These rising literary genres, again, continue to feed fantasies of imperialism. This chapter illustrates this cyclical interaction by, first, examining More’s influence on the development of settler colonies that eventually made up the United States. Then, it explains how, in return, the United States’ imperial settler utopian foundations led to the development of science fiction that fantasizes expansion into space as exemplified in Star Trek. These science fiction fantasies, again, affect actual attempts to explore space. This cycle of influence is one of the best examples illustrating More’s remarkable influence on the direction of history and literature since the publication of Utopia.

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