lots of great observations here. i've also been very interested in the temporal aspects of utopias. utopian projects must impose control over time as well as space: they depend on a linear understanding of time, in which the present is perpetually catching up with the impossibly good future that they imagine. it's interesting that both sides of the traditional political spectrum (at least here in America, where i am) are driven by misapprehensions about the past: progressives think the past was abhorrent, and try to bury it; conservatives think the past was idyllic, and try to recreate a pure version of it. both imagine that the past—whether good or bad—is gone forever, and incapable of asserting itself on their visions of a future that they control completely.
i've been working on the idea of "phasmatopia" as a counter to this: phasmatopian cultures recognize that the past never stays buried—that the powers of the more-than-human world (which includes our dead and our debts) are always returning to trouble us if we don't show proper respect. the present is an illusion of control that we create and maintain at great cost; phasmatopia is part of a temporal space where the past and the future mingle in unexpected and uncontrollable ways, like the ecotones you beautifully describe here. thanks for this.
lots of great observations here. i've also been very interested in the temporal aspects of utopias. utopian projects must impose control over time as well as space: they depend on a linear understanding of time, in which the present is perpetually catching up with the impossibly good future that they imagine. it's interesting that both sides of the traditional political spectrum (at least here in America, where i am) are driven by misapprehensions about the past: progressives think the past was abhorrent, and try to bury it; conservatives think the past was idyllic, and try to recreate a pure version of it. both imagine that the past—whether good or bad—is gone forever, and incapable of asserting itself on their visions of a future that they control completely.
i've been working on the idea of "phasmatopia" as a counter to this: phasmatopian cultures recognize that the past never stays buried—that the powers of the more-than-human world (which includes our dead and our debts) are always returning to trouble us if we don't show proper respect. the present is an illusion of control that we create and maintain at great cost; phasmatopia is part of a temporal space where the past and the future mingle in unexpected and uncontrollable ways, like the ecotones you beautifully describe here. thanks for this.