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Palgrave Macmillan

Imaginary Worlds

Invitation to an Argument

  • Book
  • © 2022

Overview

Authors:
  1. Wayne Fife

    1. Department of Anthropology, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John’s, Canada

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  • Paves the way for the cross-disciplinary comparison of imaginary worlds
  • Combines insights from anthropology and literature studies
  • Explores why imaginary worlds have become so popular in the contemporary period

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Literary Anthropology (PSLA)

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Table of contents (5 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-vii
    Download chapter PDF

  2. Imaginary Worlds in a Comparative Framework

    • Wayne Fife
    Pages 1-29

  3. Steampunk as Stealth Politics

    • Wayne Fife
    Pages 31-52

  4. The Perils of Belief: Fantasy Fiction as Narrative Theology

    • Wayne Fife
    Pages 53-80

  5. Androids as Slaves: Lessons from the Science Fiction of Philip K. Dick

    • Wayne Fife
    Pages 81-109

  6. Imaginary Worlds and Contemporary Alienation

    • Wayne Fife
    Pages 111-128

  7. Back Matter

    Pages 129-154
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Keywords

About this book

In this work, the author contends that we should create a comparative framework for the study of imaginary worlds in the social sciences. Making use of extended examples from both science fiction and fantasy fiction, as well as the living movement of steampunk, the reader is invited to an argument about how best to define imaginary worlds and approach them as social locations for qualitative research. It is suggested in this volume that increasing economic and existential forms of alienation fuel the contemporary surge of participation in imaginary worlds (from gaming worlds to young adult novels) and impel a search for more humane forms of social and cultural organization. Suggestions are made about the usefulness of imaginary worlds to social scientists as places for both testing out theoretical formulations and as tools for teaching in our classrooms.

Reviews

“Imaginary Worlds is a pioneering work in anthropology that recognizes the important poetic and political work the imagination performs in the realm of culture. Fife shows that imaginary worlds matter in anthropology and beyond because they resonate in deep ways with existential conditions of abjection and alienation. In looking at literature and cultural practices of gaming Fife also breaks new ground in the study of imagination by bringing inquiries from the fields of anthropology, literature, critical theory and cultural studies into sustained dialogue and relations. As a teacher I will employ Imaginary Worlds in my teaching, and as an analyst and reader I will draw on this book for insights and inspiration.” (Petra Rethmann, Professor, Department of Anthropology, McMaster University, Canada)

Authors and Affiliations

  • Department of Anthropology, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John’s, Canada

    Wayne Fife

About the author

Wayne Fife is Professor of Anthropology at Memorial University, Canada and the author of Doing Fieldwork and Counting as a Qualitative Method, as well as many journal articles on heritage and eco-tourism, economic inequality and education, play as politics, social alienation, ethnographic research methods, and implicit forms of religion.  

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Imaginary Worlds

  • Book Subtitle: Invitation to an Argument

  • Authors: Wayne Fife

  • Series Title: Palgrave Studies in Literary Anthropology

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-08641-0

  • Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham

  • eBook Packages: Social Sciences, Social Sciences (R0)

  • Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-031-08640-3Published: 09 August 2022

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-3-031-08643-4Published: 10 August 2023

  • eBook ISBN: 978-3-031-08641-0Published: 08 August 2022

  • Series ISSN: 2946-4218

  • Series E-ISSN: 2946-4226

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: VII, 154

  • Topics: Anthropology, Comparative Literature, Literary Theory

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