Ou Ning, The Agritopianists

Paradoxical Utopias: The Agritopianists, a conversation with Ou Ning

Please join us at e-flux on Tuesday, March 18 at 7 pm for a presentation on The Agritopianists: Thinking and Practice in Rural Japan, featuring a talk by author Ou Ning, followed by a conversation with Dalida María Benfield.  

Ou Ning’s The Agritopianists is a crucial contribution to utopia’s other histories, the world histories of utopian social experiments. It maps a unique trajectory of rethinking social possibilities across geographies and cultures. It is a history of Japan’s early twentieth century artist-led rural communitarian projects, and the utopian theories that motivated social change there and beyond. The Agritopianists vividly describes these efforts and asks the reader to consider the enduring relevance of the work of these Japanese activists and artists to subsequent, contemporary questions of anti-capitalist life, communalism, environmental stewardship, and planetary interconnection.

Extending Ou Ning’s research on the historical practices of communitarian utopias in different regions of the world, including writing on his own project in China, Bishan Commune, The Agritopianists considers the collective Atarashiki-mura (New Village) Movement initiated by Mushakoji Saneatsu, alongside many other individual experiments, to trace the ideas, debates, and projects of their period. Eventually, these efforts resulted in the shared embrace of “agricultural fundamentalism,” the prioritizing of farming and rural ways of life over industry and commerce. This idea was, however, soon to be paradoxically exploited by militant nationalists, in favor of fascism and imperial ambition. Ou Ning combines original field investigation with a close reading of historical archives to construct a narrative spanning periods and geographies while remaining attentive to specific, critical details, opening onto this and many other paradoxes of utopianism. 

For more information, contact program [​at​] e-flux.com.

Accessibility
–Two flights of stairs lead up to the building’s front entrance at 172 Classon Avenue.​
–For elevator access, please RSVP to program [​at​] e-flux.com. The building has a freight elevator that leads into the e-flux office space. Entrance to the elevator is nearest to 180 Classon Ave (a garage door). We have a ramp for the steps within the space.
–e-flux has an ADA-compliant bathroom. There are no steps between the event space and this bathroom.