Future Thinking: The Utopian Function of the Creative Spirit (2014) | ||||
| Cairo Studies in English | ||||
| Volume 2025, Issue 1, July 2025, Page 181-198 PDF (389.31 K) | ||||
| Document Type: Keynote Address | ||||
| DOI: 10.21608/cse.2025.399377.1233 | ||||
 View on SCiNiTO | ||||
| Author | ||||
| Bill Ashcroft | ||||
| School of English, Media and Performing Arts, University of New South Wales (UNSW) | ||||
| Abstract | ||||
| The article is Bill Ashcroft’s keynote address “Future Thinking: The Utopian Function of the Creative Spirit,” that was delivered at the 11th International Symposium on Comparative Literature entitled: Creativity and Revolution, organized by the Department of English at Cairo University in November 2012. Ashcroft makes a case for necessity of creativity for revolution because its function is to inspire hope for change, for freedom and for the future. While not all creative expressions have revolution as a goal, they make it possible to imagine other worlds and other possibilities. The article draws on Ernest Bloch's philosophy of hope, and the idea that utopianism is integral in all creative expressions, and that utopias are never experienced but are a driver of the not-yet-conscious that carries new possibilities in the future. Ashcroft turns to Palestinian literature as a poignant expression of postcolonial utopianism that is emblematic of future thinking. He quotes Mahmoud Darwish’s “another world is possible,” highlights the power of Naji Al-Ali’s Handala, who continues to be an icon of Palestinian resistance, and reflects on Larissa Sansour’s photo project, Nation Estate, a virtual depiction of Palestine as a skyscraper where the entire Palestinian population will live due to the persistent Israeli appropriation of their land. Foreword by Hoda Elsadda. | ||||
| Keywords | ||||
| creativity; revolution; imagination; hope; postcolonial literature | ||||
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