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Event—Adult Education

Utopias

Jun 27, 2020

In our current age of pre–Apocalyptic hand-wringing, it’s hard not to fantasize about a utopian alternative. Drawing on examples from literature, film, political philosophy, and architecture, this interdisciplinary single–day seminar will explore utopias, both real and imagined.

As a precaution to help reduce the spread of COVID-19, the Adult Education Seminars Program’s Summer 2020 term will be moving online. Virtual seminars will meet via Zoom video conference and will use email and Google Drive folders to share resources and communicate with instructors and participants. For more information about the Newberry’s virtual seminars and these tools, including a Zoom tutorial, please see our Virtual Seminars FAQ page. If you have questions about online learning, please feel free to reach out to seminars@newberry.org.

For more information about the Newberry’s response to COVID-19 please visit www.newberry.org/covid19.

Seminar Description

In our current age of pre–Apocalyptic hand-wringing, it’s hard not to fantasize about a utopian alternative. Drawing on examples from literature, film, political philosophy, and architecture, this interdisciplinary single–day seminar will explore utopias, both real and imagined. Texts discussed will include the Bible, Plato’s Republic, Thomas Moore’s Utopia, and Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s Herland. We will also survey failed utopias from history, including the seventeenth–century colony of Merrymount, and Fordlandia, Henry Ford’s factory outpost in the Amazon.

One session. Registration – $30

Harrison Sherrod manages a film production company by day and teaches seminars at the Newberry by night. He has led courses on everything from metaphysical detectives and con games to Star Wars and Marxism.

This seminar is part of a special series examining humanities contexts for pandemics past and present. Explore the other seminars in the series, including The Philosophy of Anxiety, Baseball in Cultural Crises, Familiar Strains, Chords, and Dischords: Musical Echoes from the 1918 Pandemic, and Arts of Dying: The Visual Culture of the Black Death in Medieval Europe.

Materials List

Required:

  • Thomas More, Utopia. Verso, 2016. ISBN: 9781784787608

First Reading:

  • Please read all of Thomas More's Utopia.​

**Newberry Bookshop Update**

Due to ongoing concerns about COVID-19 and the safety and well-being of our patrons, the Newberry Bookshop will be closed during the Summer 2020 term. As such, seminar participants will be responsible for acquiring all required texts for their seminars on their own. We apologize sincerely for the inconvenience, and appreciate your understanding. We have put together a list of helpful resources that should make it easy to find the books you need.

In the coming months, the Rosenberg Bookshop plans to launch an online web store where reading material for seminars will be available, along with other books, gifts, and cards. More on this soon!

Registration Information

Online registration opens at 9 am (CST) on Wednesday, June 3.

Please note: Due to COVID-19, the Adult Education Seminars staff is working remotely and will be unable to process registration over the phone. For more information about registration, including a guide to online registration, see our Registration Information page. Questions? Please contact seminars program staff via email at seminars@newberry.org.

We offer a 10% discount to members, seniors, and students.

This seminar is part of the Newberry’s Adult Education Seminars Program. Learn more about registering for a seminar, program policies, or teaching a seminar.