Everyday moments of disruption: navigating towards utopia

Ackhurst, Molly (2019) Everyday moments of disruption: navigating towards utopia. Studies in Arts and Humanities 5 (1), pp. 115-128. ISSN 2009-826X.

Abstract

Representations of utopia are often streamlined into being an end goal, a concrete vision for a better future. For mainstream sexual violence response organisations, utopia is largely simplified into being a world without sexual abuse, and the path to this utopia is breaking the silence to end the violence. Using utopic theory, this article will unpick this concentration, and suggest a re-direction towards the granular parts of utopia. Davina Cooper’s concept of everyday utopias will be utilised, alongside the radical work of adrienne maree brown and Walidah Imarisha to highlight the positive alternatives that lie in everyday utopian social justice practices. Drawing on the work of three groups the author currently organises with, Hollaback! London, Sisters Uncut and the Silenced Museum, an opposition between the teleological narrative of early feminist movements and the everyday utopianism of grassroots organising will be drawn. In doing so the article expands upon three core practices fostered in these groups: intersectional prefiguration, visionary fiction-ing, and everyday disruptions. It will thus be suggested that mainstream sexual violence response organisations in the UK engage in a process of unlearning and learning to better navigate towards an everyday utopian world free from sexual violence.

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