A Case for Hope in Hopeless Times: German Grassroots Activism as New Utopianism, A Book Talk with Professor Jennifer Allen
By most accounts, the twentieth century was not kind to utopian thought. The violence of two world wars, Cold War anxieties, and a widespread sense of crisis after the 1973 global oil shock appeared to doom dreams of a better world. The eventual victory of capitalism and, seemingly, liberal democracy relieved some fears but exchanged them for complacency and cynicism.
Not, however, in West Germany. Jennifer Allen showcases grassroots activism of the 1980s and 1990s that envisioned a radically different society based on community-centered politics—a society in which the democratization of culture and power ameliorated alienation and resisted the impotence of end-of-history narratives. Berlin’s History Workshop liberated research from university confines by providing opportunities for ordinary people to write and debate the story of the nation. The Green Party made the politics of direct democracy central to its program. Artists changed the way people viewed and acted in public spaces by installing objects in unexpected environments, including the Stolpersteine: paving stones, embedded in residential sidewalks, bearing the names of Nazi victims. These activists went beyond just trafficking in ideas. They forged new infrastructures, spaces, and behaviors that gave everyday people real agency in their communities. Undergirding this activism was the environmentalist concept of sustainability, which demanded that any alternative to existing society be both enduring and adaptable.
Jennifer Allen is an associate professor of modern European history at Yale University. Her research and teaching focus on the history of modern Germany with an emphasis on cultural history, the theories and practices of memory, counterculture and grassroots activism, and environmentalism. Her first book, Sustainable Utopias: The Art and Politics of Hope in Germany (Harvard University Press, 2022), charts Germany’s postwar efforts to revitalize the concept of utopia. She’s currently working on a new book project, “Insurance Against Total Destruction,” that analyzes postwar German efforts to archive the raw materials needed to rebuild national and international cultures after total catastrophe. Allen’s other work has appeared in the Journal of Modern History, Central European History, German History, Journal of Urban History, and H-Diplo. Her research has been supported by Project House Europe at LMU in Munich, Zentrum für Zeithistorische Forschung, Volkswagen and Mellon Foundations, American Academy in Berlin, Institut für Zeitgeschichte, and DAAD, among others.