Rethinking Utopia

Returning to the three constituent parts of the word: 'good' (eu), 'place' (topos) and 'no' (ou); Bell reflects how these words might be thought 'nomadically' - via a constellation of theory that asserts the importance of affective relations and posits difference as ontologically prior to identity. The 'good' draws on Deleuze and Spinoza's affective ethical thought; 'place' from contemporary political geography; and the 'no' theorized via a reading of Ahmed's critique of happiness and Foucault's work on power. Among the first to offer an extended reading of utopia through the lens of affect, whilst maintaining a critical stance vis a vis the recent 'affective turn' in the social sciences.