dr. Cornel West, faculty, students speak at ‘dystopia Now!’ symposium

by Aaron Gruen Executive News Editor

The Department of International Literary and Cultural Studies hosted the “Dystopia Now!” symposium, focused on representations of dystopia in media and popular culture, on Friday. Dr. Cornel West opened the event with a keynote address.

In his wide-ranging speech, West discussed how studying dystopia can provide insight into our modern condition and what it means to be human.

“We always want to connect the utopian with the dystopian; it goes hand in hand,” West said. “This [ILCS] department has the audacity to say, ‘Come with us as we wrestle with … forms of death: physical death, social death, psychic death, spiritual death.’”

West ended his keynote by asking attendees to immerse themselves in literature from all eras, not just contemporary work.

“Don’t get socialized into one paradigm or one way of looking at the world or one school of thought; be improvisational enough to have confidence in yourself,” West said.

“Don’t participate in the oligarchy of the quick and read only the people who are alive and breathing. … [Read] the great voices of the dead, those that wrestled with the same kinds of challenges of what it means to be human.”

Following West’s speech, faculty and students presented on different interpretations of dystopia, from video games to film.

Salomé Albright, a junior, spoke on a dystopian depiction of adolescence in the graphic novel “Black Hole” (1995).

“It had this beautiful blend of existentialism and intimacy that I thought really captured the essence of adolescence,”

Albright said in an interview with the Daily.

After focusing on femme theory and anti-colonial work in her studies, Albright decided she wanted “an opportunity to talk about something that was really just a fun read for me.”

During her speech, Albright drew parallels between adolescence and dystopian tropes, including “transition, sexual desire, fear, peer and parental isolation, shame and displacement.”

Milo Shields, a senior, explored dystopian video games, arguing that they are uniquely suited to present surreal stories.

“I would argue we can’t afford not to do this,” Monaco said.

“Having the variation in your faculty, students and staff really brings to bear the perspectives, the different challenges that people overcame to get here and also the variety of approaches they