Agency, Race and Utopia

In: Socialism and democracy: the bulletin of the Research Group on Socialism and Democracy, Band 17, Heft 2, S. 91-101

Abstract

An analysis of the degree of agency given to Blacks by utopian authors reveals the openly racist assumptions in Aldous Huxley's Brave New World (1932) & Edward Bellamy's Looking Backward (1888). Attention is called to George Schuler's lesser known utopian novel Black Empire (1938), which rejects white supremacy & offers suggestions for combating it, as well as Edward Johnson's, Light Ahead for the Negro (1904), the first white-authored utopian novel in which Blacks & whites live together with mutual respect. Exploration of the basic rationale of utopian imaginings focuses on how social problems are identified & solutions for resolving them are offered. Both Huxley & Bellamy allow the continued oppression of Blacks in their views of the future while Schuler's vision involves a "Black Internationale" of high skilled Africans, African Americans, Caribbeans, & others that is committed to the elimination of global white supremacy. It is concluded that the limited agency attributed to Black people by Bellamy & Huxley was a reflection of mainstream racial opinions of the time. J. Lindroth