Writing Future Worlds: An Anthropologist Explores Global Scenarios (palgrave Studies In Literary Anthropology)

This volume presents a comprehensive analysis of global future scenarios and their impact on a growing, shared culture. Ever since the end of the Cold War, a diverse range of future concepts has emerged in various areas of academia—and even in popular journalism. A number of these key concepts—‘the end of history,’ ‘the clash of civilizations,’ ‘the coming anarchy,’ ‘the world is flat,’ ‘soft power,’ ‘the post-American century’—suggest what could become characteristic of this new, interconnected world. Ulf Hannerz scrutinizes these ideas, considers their legacy, and suggests further dialogue between authors of the ‘American scenario’ and commentators elsewhere. This book is a detailed exploration and analysis of the rise of a publishing genre providing speculative, global, and comprehensive accounts of near term geopolitical trajectories. In exploring these works from an Anthropological perspective, Hannerz focuses primarily on textual materials - the books and articles themselves, ancillary publications by the same authors, and their textual afterlives as evident in subsequent commentaries, reviews, and, occasionally, debates. Such works clearly figure saliently and, at times, consequentially in the shaping of public and policy discourses around international relations, politics, and the ongoing explanation of emergent global phenomena. .-- Provided by publisher Front Matter....Pages i-xi Prologue: Atlantis and 1984....Pages 1-9 Chapter 1 The “One Big Thing” Quintet & Co....Pages 11-29 Chapter 2 When Pundits Go Global....Pages 31-48 Chapter 3 Playing with Maps....Pages 49-80 Chapter 4 Side Shows: Eurabia, MexAmerica....Pages 81-111 Chapter 5 Reporting from the Future....Pages 113-133 Chapter 6 Contemporary Habitats of Meaning....Pages 135-160 Chapter 7 Culture: Between XL and S....Pages 161-191 Chapter 8 Soft Power....Pages 193-207 Chapter 9 Scenarios from Everywhere....Pages 209-262 Back Matter....Pages 263-295 Prologue : Atlantis And 1984 -- The One Big Thing Quintet & Co -- When Pundits Go Global -- Playing With Maps -- Side Shows : Eurabia, Mexamerica -- Reporting From The Future -- Contemporary Habitats Of Meaning -- Culture : Between Xl And S -- Soft Power -- Scenarios From Everywhere. Ulf Hannerz. Includes Bibliographical References (pages 263-281) And Index.