Can we experience resonance with utopias? That is the starting question for this explorative theoretical article, which relates Hartmut Rosa’s resonance theory, via Jacques Derrida’s idea of hauntology, to the possibility of imagining alternative futures. Both resonance theory and hauntology starts from the assumption that we need to take a relational perspective to the world and to ideas, which through openness to transformation makes different approaches to society possible.
The argument in the article is that we need to meet utopias halfway, which means that we need to talk to them and relate them to the conditions of the present. This way, both utopias and our own conceptions about society and societal change will be transformed. It allows us to use our imagination to inspire new future practices, captured by Alfred Wilener’s term “imaginaction”.
The future is always present in the present, since our ideas about a good society will influence how we act and prioritize here and now. In this context, utopias should not be seen as blueprints of perfect societies, but as tools to form the future we consider desirable. To take a resonant approach to utopias mean using them to start change processes toward desired goals.
The article is titled “Meeting utopia halfway: A hauntological approach to resonant conversations with utopian futures in times of climate crisis”. It is published in European journal of Social Theory and is freely available.