Dystopias & Utopias: Faculty Resources

Free Web Resources Related to 2016 Workshop Presentations for Teachers and Students

American Utopian Communities:

America and the Utopian Dream (Yale University Library)

Utopian Communities, 1800-1890 (Yale University Library)

Library of Congress Digital Exhibit about an American Colony in Jerusalem

Website on the town of Pullman, Illinois  (created by the Pullman Museum)

"America's Company Towns, Then and Now" (an article accompanied by photographs from Smithsonian Magazine)

Life Magazine special issue on "Youth Communes," July 1969 (Google Books)

Resources on the Soviet Union:

"Soviet Russia in its Early Years"  (A Collection of Photographs Presented to the New York Public Library)

Soviet Poster Collection (Duke University Library)

Resources on post-Arpartheid South Africa:

Resources from the South African Apartheid Museum

South African History Online Website Archive

Source Lab:

SourceLab Website

SourceLab is an initiative started by the History Department at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Its goal is two-fold: to improve the presentation of historical primary sources online and making these presentation of historical sources student-centered. Students will be in charge of writing and publishing the information accompanying these online historical sources.

Primary sources/lesson plans portal sites:

Guide to finding lesson plans (resource list compiled by the UIUC Social Sciences, Health, and Education Library --see "Social Studies" section)

History, Philosophy, and Newspaper Library Digital Collections guide (digitized primary source collections --note that while offsite access to most of these collections is limited to UIUC-affiliated users, they can be used onsite by everyone)

The Global Utopias Project is supported by the Center for Historical Interpretation of the UIUC History Department. It is part of a "three-year program of conversations and events on the ways Utopia has been imagined, interpreted and practiced globally"

-from the UIUC Global Utopias Project website

• Arthur O. Lewis Utopia Collection at Penn State University

  "Nearly everyone involved in utopian studies acknowledges one scholar, Arthur O. Lewis (1920-2009), Associate Dean Emeritus of the College of the Liberal Arts at Penn State, as the father figure. His annual Directory of Utopian Scholars, which he began compiling in 1958, was one of the publications that eventually brought about the establishment of the Society for Utopian Studies (whose papers are also collected at Penn State) and the Associazione Internazionale per gli Studi sulle Utopie. The pursuit of a definition of utopia occupied Professor Lewis for many years, and during that time we added books to our shelves to support his research and the publication of Of Men and Machines (1963) and American Utopias: Selected Short Fiction (1971). On March 25, 2003, the collection was named The Arthur O. Lewis Utopia Collection in honor of Professor Lewis's many contributions to Penn State's collection and to the field of utopian studies."
• The Center for Thomas More Studies

  “To promote the study of Thomas More, especially his understanding of liberty, statesmanship, and the need for educated and virtuous citizens.”
• Ralahine Center for Utopian Studies

  "The Ralahine Centre for Utopian Studies was established in 2003 to pursue innovative research across disciplines on utopian thought and practice. The Centre’s research and service agenda is based on the premise that social values, policies, and practices are shaped by hopeful, utopian visions, and that this dimension is critical to the betterment of life for all members of society. Far from a static, ‘perfect’ and allegedly unrealisable proposition, Ralahine promotes an understanding of the utopian as both a social reality and a critically important way of envisioning change. The ‘political unconscious’ (Fredric Jameson) of a society is utopian insofar as it expresses collective desires for better values and practices. Ralahine is committed to the exploration of this practical insight, both historically and with respect to our common future."
• The Society for Utopian Studies

  "Founded in 1975, The Society for Utopian Studies is an international, interdisciplinary association devoted to the study of utopianism in all its forms, with a particular emphasis on literary and experimental utopias. Scholars representing a wide variety of disciplines are active in the association, and approach utopian studies from such diverse backgrounds as American Studies, Architecture, the Arts, Classics, Cultural Studies, Economics, Engineering, Environmental Studies, Gender Studies, History, Languages and Literatures, Philosophy, Political Science, Psychology, Sociology and Urban Planning. Although many Society members are involved in social activism or communitarianism, the purpose of the Society itself is to study utopianism rather than to pursue utopian projects."
• Teaching Resources from the Society for Utopian Studies

  "The Society’s Teaching Committee fosters the discussion/sharing resources of education, teaching, and pedagogy in relation to utopia. Its Teaching Utopia site houses the teaching archives: a collection/discussion of utopian teaching materials (syllabi, assignments, etc.)" (from website).
• Utopus Discovered (from Society for Utopian Studies)

  The blog accompaniment to the Society for Utopian Studies)