‘the creation of Utopias – and their exhaustive criticism – is the proper and distinctive method of sociology.’

H.G Wells in Utopia as Method (2013) Ruth Levitas.

‘[A]ll [activist] organizing is science fiction. When we talk about a world without prisons; a world without police violence; a world where everyone has food, clothing, shelter, quality education; a world free of white supremacy, patriarchy, capitalism, heterosexism; we are talking about a world that doesn’t currently exist. But collectively dreaming up one that does means we can begin building it into existence.’

How Science Fiction can Re-Envision Justice (2015) Walidah Imarisha. 

I am delighted to have received an Independent Scholar Fellowship from the ISRF to undertake my new project Prison Break: Imagining Alternatives to Prison in the UK.

Prison Break is a research project that uses creative writing workshops to support UK-based people involved in prison abolition and transformative justice to create speculative fiction (i.e. work in the genres of science fiction, fantasy, horror), that can help imagine and enact a more just future. A selection of the creative works made during workshops will be edited into a collection that will be shared as a free, public educational resource alongside materials which would allow other groups to run their own workshops. There will also be a project website where selected materials can be accessed and downloaded. This is my dream project, so I am beyond excited about the coming year!

If you want to get in touch about the project please send me an email at Philippa [dot] Thomas [at] glasgow [dot] ac [dot] uk.