Quinientos años después de la primera edición del libro de Tomás Moro (Libro del estado ideal de una república en la nueva isla de Utopía, 1516), el término Utopía y el género al que dio lugar siguen entre nosotros, reflejando las esperanzas y las contradicciones de la modernidad. Es un buen momento para revisar colectivamente la recepción y el impacto que ha tenido en todos los ámbitos la obra cumbre de Moro: para reflexionar y debatir sobre la utopía de entonces, la utopía de ahora y la utopía futura. Convocamos para ello un congreso que pretendemos que sea trasnacional y trasdisciplinar, en el que examinemos las lecturas que ha tenido la Utopía de Moro a través de la interrelación de diferentes saberes.

Argument

Is not that government both unjust and ungrateful, that is so prodigal of its favours to those that are called gentlemen, or goldsmiths, or such others who are idle, or live either by flattery or by contriving the arts of vain pleasure, and, on the other hand, takes no care of those of a meaner sort, such as ploughmen, colliers, and smiths, without whom it could not subsist?

Five hundred years after the first edition of Thomas More’s book (Libellus vere aureus, nec minus salutaris quam festivus, de optimo rei publicae statu deque nova insula Utopia, 1516), the concept of Utopia –and the genre which it established– is still with us by reflecting the hopes and contradictions of modernity. This is a great time to review collectively the reception and the impact of Thomas More’s masterpiece in various fields: a good time to think about and to discuss utopia in the past, in the present and in the future.

For this reason, we call a transnational and transdisciplinary conference where we intend to review the readings of More’s Utopia through the interrelation of different approaches. We would like to delve into the theory and the practice which this work has unleashed over the last five centuries in several areas of thought, including historiography, political sciences, social sciences, literary and art studies, social activism and in the projection of possible worlds.

The recognition of Utopia’s centrality is not an acritical tribute. We do not want to enshrine this work as an object of worship. On the contrary, by following the current critical questioning in the utopian translation, we want to analyse its instrumentalisations at the service of several causes, and the social, political and cultural contexts in which they have occurred. We will not elude the controversial dimension of Utopia and its epigones from its origin to the present.

Thus, this conference has diverse core areas such as: The sense and context of Utopia; The translation and spread of Utopia; The rereading and interpretation of Moro’s work from the 16^th to the 21^st century; Utopia and Modernity, from the Renaissance to the present day; Learned and popular utopias; Perverse uses of utopia; The utopian genre; The ideal city; The components of utopian critique: science, power, religion, space, institutions, etc.

More wrote that “the minds of the Utopians, when fenced with a love for learning, are very ingenious in discovering all such arts as are necessary to carry it to perfection”. Thus, think and create together. Not for the comfort of life, but to empower it and to turn it into a weapon which allows us to go to that famous island where the corruption of customs has no place, that place-non-place in which we think a lot with our desire of living.

Organization

The conference will take place on 15 and 16 December 2016 at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain. Papers can be presented in Spanish or English.

Proposals should be sent by email to the following address

until 30 June 2016

 redutopias@gmail.com. They must include Title, Author (and academic institution, organization, movement or community) and an abstract of 250-500 words.

An organizing committee will evaluate all proposals and determine which topics will be chosen for the workshops seminars and the round tables.

Organized by

• HISTOPIA Project (Historia del futuro);
• Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (Department of Modern History);
• Red Trasatlántica de Estudio de las Utopías (Utopias Study Trasatlantic Network)

Scientific Committee 

• Juan Pro (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain)
• Carlos Eduardo Berriel (Universidade de Campinas, Brazil)
• Edgar Decca (Universidade de Campinas, Brazil)
• José Carlos Ferrera (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid)
• Pere Gallardo (Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Tarragona, Spain)
• Pedro A. García Bilbao (Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Spain)
• Hugo García Fernández (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid)
• Andrew Ginger (University of Bristol, United Kingdom)
• Carlos Illades (Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, Mexico)
• Jesús Izquierdo Martín (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid)
• Manfredi Merluzzi (Università Roma Tre, Italy)
• Horacio Paglione (CeDInCI-Universidad Nacional de San Martín, Argentina)
• Julia Ramírez Blanco (Academia de España en Roma, Italy)
• Michèle Riot-Sarcey (Université Paris 8-Vincennes-Saint-Denis, France)
• Ángel Rivero (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid)
• Manuel Rivero (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid)
• Ana Sabau (University of Michigan, USA)
• Juan Luis Simal (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid)
• Susana Sueiro (Universidad Nacional de Educacion a Distancia, Spain)