{"product_id":"reactionary-worldbuilding-isbn-9780262053679","title":"Reactionary Worldbuilding","description":"\u003cb\u003eThe first in-depth study of the dark side of worldbuilding, exploring the connection between speculative imagination and political practice.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSpeculative imagination brings to life an array of possible worlds that differ in crucial ways from the one governed by shared assumptions of the “normal,” “real,” or “inevitable.” This act of speculation—known as \u003ci\u003eworldbuilding\u003c\/i\u003e—has become undeniably resurgent in our times of multiple crises. Worldbuilding has long been associated with progressivist impulses, yet this book examines how worldbuilding has also been conducive to a diametrically opposite set of ideologies and politics, including apocalyptic reenactments, alternative histories, and conspiracy theories. \u003ci\u003eReactionary Worldbuilding\u003c\/i\u003e, edited by Anindita Banerjee, Sherryl Vint, David Higgins, and Jordan Carroll, analyzes how interrogating these reactionary modes can open up new ways of imagining value and belonging, justice and what is natural, history and its lessons, and the future and pathways to it.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCombining theoretical and analytical perspectives with site-specific knowledge of various periods and regions around the world, from interwar Germany to Soviet Central Asia, post-independence India to contemporary South Korea, this volume traces the durable and persuasive appeal of reactionary worldbuilding far beyond the boundaries of the current moment. The speculative arts of reactionary worldbuilding cannot be dismissed as mere excesses of extremist fantasy; instead, this collection demonstrates that they can serve as crucial foundations for making sense of the self and the world and shows why it is urgent that we critique their power.Anindita Banerjee is Associate Professor of Comparative Literature at Cornell University and a faculty fellow at the Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability. Her recent publications include \u003ci\u003eSouth of the Future\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eBorder Environments\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSherryl Vint is Distinguished Professor of Media and Cultural Studies and English at the University of California, Riverside, where she founded the Speculative Fictions and Cultures of Science program. She is the Managing Editor of \u003ci\u003eScience Fiction Studies\u003c\/i\u003e and has published widely on science fiction, including \u003ci\u003eBiopolitical Futures \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eProgramming the Future\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDavid M. Higgins is Associate Professor of English and American Studies and Chair of the Department of Humanities and Communication at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Worldwide. He is the author of \u003ci\u003eReverse Colonization\u003c\/i\u003e, which won the 2021 Science Fiction Research Association Book Award.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJordan S. Carroll is the author of \u003ci\u003eSpeculative Whiteness\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eReading the Obscene\u003c\/i\u003e, which won the 2020–2021 MLA Prize for Independent Scholars.","brand":"The MIT Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48233503588581,"sku":"NP9780262053679","price":90.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780262053679.jpg?v=1767735441","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/es\/products\/reactionary-worldbuilding-isbn-9780262053679","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}