HS2O21-Utopia: the Quest for a Perfect World

Module Provider: History
Number of credits: 20 [10 ECTS credits]
Level:5
Terms in which taught: Autumn term module
Pre-requisites:
Non-modular pre-requisites:
Co-requisites:
Modules excluded:
Current from: 2022/3

Module Convenor: Dr Jeremy Burchardt
Email: j.burchardt@reading.ac.uk

Type of module:

Summary module description:

This module explores one of humanity’s most cherished and long-standing dreams: the quest for a perfect world. After an initial survey of the roots of the utopian tradition, we focus primarily on modern visions and versions of utopia in the period c.1800-c.2000.

Aims:

Part 2 Options can be either chronological or thematic. Chronological Options will usually take the form of a survey of a particular geographical area or nation over a defined period of one or two centuries. These Options aim to acquaint students with the causes andÌý

consequences of continuity and change over the long term in the political, social, economic and cultural systems under study. Thematic Options take key concepts, ideas, or debates in history and study them in a number of different contexts, either geographically or across historical periods. The aim again is to acquaint students with the causes of continuity and change, but this time by a more comparative approach.

Assessable learning outcomes:

By the end of the module it is expected that the student will be able to:Ìý

• identify and explain the main issues and events studied


• appraise critically the primary sources and historiographical interpretations of the subject


• think comparatively about aspects of African, American, British, European, Middle Eastern and South Asian history over a substantial period


• assess the nature of social, economic, political and cultural change and the particular methodologies associated with tracing it


• organise material and articulate arguments effectively in different kinds of written exercises and orally


• locate and assemble bibliographic and other information by independent research, using IT as appropriate

Additional outcomes:

The module aims to encourage the development of oral communication skills and the student’s effectiveness in group situations and team-working. Students will also develop their IT skills by use of relevant web resources and databases, where appropriate.

Outline content:

This module explores one of humanity’s most cherished and long-standing dreams: the quest for a perfect world. ÌýAfter an initial survey of the roots of the utopian tradition, we focus primarily on modern visions and versions of utopia in the period c.1800-c.2000. ÌýWe look at the writings and influence of nineteenth-century utopians such as Robert Owen, William Morris and Leo Tolstoy and then at attempts to put their ideals into practice, including Owenite communities such as Ralahine and Tolstoyan communes like Whiteway. ÌýWe follow the development of this tradition through into twentieth century ‘back-to-the-land’ and countercultural communes. ÌýSuch small-scale utopian endeavours were often transient but had the advantage of being comparatively easy to establish. ÌýHowever, in general they were predicated on turning their back on society rather than attempting to transform it (which is why revolutionaries such as Marx were often hostile to utopianism). ÌýIn the second half of the course we turn our attention to more ambitious efforts to create utopian societies at the level of the nation state, focusing on Yugoslavia 1945-1980, Cuba 1959-present and the ‘Nordic model’ of Scandinavian social democracy, c.1930-present. ÌýThe module ends with an overview of efforts to translate utopian visions into practice, and a brief consideration of the future of utopia, with a focus on what the implications of IT and roboticsare for humanity’s enduring quest for a perfect world. Ìý

Throughout the module students will be encouraged to ask questions, think for themselves, and make up their own minds about the many fundamental questions the module raises, among them:

• Have attempts to create utopian communities/nations ever actually worked?


• Why have they so rarely lasted?


• Have they had a positive legacy or have they done moreharm than good?


• Has utopianism fostered, undermined or s