We invite you to a collaborative book project in which we explore Pantopia. By building a specific future world together, we aim to open up an interdisciplinary discussion on transformations to desirable futures in the Anthropocene. The point of departure for our work is that the concreteness of this one future will allow us to engage more vividly with the desirability of different "solutions" to our current predicament.

Pantopia is a world some 150 years in the future, with a societal philosophy resting on care, stability and resilience. The world is the outcome of a troubled past. Climate change, biodiversity loss, and societal turmoil have caused severe crises. As a response, people of Pantopia have built a resilient society, which micromanages ecological processes, anticipates tipping points and counteracts them. Change is allowed within predetermined parameters that do not endanger the current state of the Earth system.

We are interested in contributions that analyse and discuss the boundaries between care for nature and control over nature from different disciplines and research foci, across the social and natural sciences and humanities. To facilitate this immersive exploration of the future Pantopia, the book will be written as if it was published in 2172, from within Pantopia. We invite today’s scholars, to write an analytical piece on one of the myriad aspects of the Pantopian future as if they were scientists from that very time.

To register for the workshop please send us your confirmation to alexandra [dot] nikoleris [at] miljo [dot] lth [dot] se, including dietary preferences by 7 December. 

Programme

23 January: focus on creating the world with the aim of finding teams or chapter ideas

10.00-11.00 Introduction and short writing exercise to get going 
11.00-12.00 The foundations of the world 
Lunch 12-13
13.00-14.00 The foundations of the world
14.00-15.00 Inspirational abstract draft. Single-authored.
15.00-15.30 FIKA
15.30-16.30 Reporting/speed dating. 
16.30-17.30 Team building
Free time: Pair up, continue discussing. Or take some time off. Do other work. 
19.00 Dinner

24 January: focus on developing texts together 

09.00-10.00 Reporting back/pitches from the teams
10.00-10.30 FIKA
10.30-11.30 The genre of fictional future academic writing 
11.00-12.00 Extended abstract writing
Lunch 12-13
13.00-14.00 Extended abstract writing
14.00-15.00 Feedback session

To register for the workshop please send us your confirmation to alexandra [dot] nikoleris [at] miljo [dot] lth [dot] se, including dietary preferences by 7 December. 

Organisers: Alexandra Nikoleris, Nils Droste, Bregje Van Veelen