Fourierist Attractions: A Reading Workshop on the Social Imaginary and Affective Communities

Fourierist Attractions

A Reading Workshop on the Social Imaginary and Affective Communities

In 1808, the French utopian thinker Charles Fourier published a remarkable treatise: The Theory of the Four Movements, blending sociology, cosmology, psychology, economy, philosophy, and fiction. In the book, Fourier reimagines societies according to passions and affective anthropologies, introduces principles of social organization, rethinks labor and communal living, food and cohabitation, etc. etc. Especially in the young United States, Fourier’s ideas ignited a large Fourierist movement – a unique transatlantic transfer of ideas – that helped found dozens of experimental communities called “phalanxes.”

Social reformers and social philosophers from Marx and Engels to Benjamin, Breton, Barthes, and Lenk read and discussed Fourier throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. In this reading workshop, we will continue that tradition: We will reread excerpts from Fourier’s book and discuss the underlying social imaginaries.

Find the required 74p excerpt in this cloud drive (as well as a Fourier introduction & the mentioned suggested readings):

https://flfu.nimmerland.space/index.php/s/fzcReXSgfHHMXRe

With participation of Rüdiger Campe (Yale), Marta Figlerowicz (Yale), Julia Mierbach (Bonn/NYU), and Barbara Nagel (Princeton).

Organized by Jasper Schagerl (Yale/Bremen), Florian Fuchs (Princeton), and Kirk Wetters (Yale).