Ivagining worlds: On Ursula K. Le Guin, social science-fiction, and altertopias

Abstract

Ethnography-based Anthropology and Science Fiction can engage in a productive dialogue since both address what is proposed as “altertopias”. Utopias, dystopias, and cultural alterity share the possibility of imagining social and cultural organizations different from both those of the authors and those of the readers. These imaginations are intrinsically creative/artistic and political at the same time, and they critique power structures, especially when approached through a feminist stance. Inspired by the literary work of Ursula LeGuin, the article takes this further by experimenting with the inclusion of a fictional piece of “Social science fiction” that itself plays on LeGuin’s themes.