Maja Muhić

This paper is inspired by two trends in two disciplines – cultural anthropology, and the dystopian literature. Starting from the already established premise, that there exists a clear merging between these disciplines in what Stover (1973) calls anthropological science fiction, I am prompted to push the argument further. Instead of just arguing that the SF genre emerged greatly as a result of social science research and particularly of anthropology, I want to look at some of the contemporary problems that cultural anthropology deals with and merge it with the themes of this, now reemerging genre. The origins of the dystopian novel as predominantly SF (science fiction) writing, have been well analyzed. Its emergence goes back to around 1880, marked by the strong intervention of sciences in human life. To list but a few of the most prominent works of dystopian writing, by 1908, works such as Erewhon (Samuel Buttler), Looking Backward (Edward Bellamy), as well as Hugo Gernsback’s Modern Electrics SF magazine have been produced. What followed was an avalanche of writings, including Huxley, Orwell, Bradbery, etc. Many of these works, (Brave New World, 1984) focus on the consequences of technology and lack of ethics in using it on human life. Most of these dystopian novels, talk about the perils of technology, technocracy and its omni-controlling power. It is interesting to analyze then, that much of the contemporary problems that anthropology deals with in the 21 st century, fall within the realm of dystopian literature. The rising trend of new dystopian novels, can offer foundations for a vision, whereby dystopian literature can offers a wide array of topics from which social anthropology can borrow in its active engagement with contemporary global issues and the new human condition. Stephen Collier and George Laikoff, in On Regimes of Living (2004), talk about the regimes of living, referring to a configuration of normative, technical, and political elements that are aligned with situations that present ethical problems – that is, when the question of how to live is brought to the surface. It is precisely, genome sequencing, stem cell research, biopolitics, the pharmaceutical marketing, that fall within the realm of new anthropological problems. Comparing the motives of dystopian literature (its reaction towards reality or the world as we know it), its questioning of the moral and human aspects of war, science, violence, technology, etc, with the most recent issues that contemporary cultural anthropology deals with, will be the primary focus of this paper. Its aim to show the strengths of this interdisciplinarity for a critical grasp of the contemporary human condition, will be but one motive of this work.