Alternative Temporalities: The Emancipatory Power of Narrative

Alternative Temporalities explores how storytelling can challenge and resist oppressive temporal structures, drawing on literary representations of time to propose alternative embodied experiences of time and create new theories and practices for a more diverse and inclusive perception of time.

Format: Hardback
Length: 272 pages
Publication date: 15 January 2025
Publisher: University of Toronto Press

Alternative Temporalities have emerged as a response to the normativizing force of time, highlighting its potential as a tool of power and oppression as well as a means of resistance. This book draws on analyses of modern literature to explore the often-neglected role of time in shaping our understanding of the world. By examining forms of temporal resistance in artistic representation, such as short stories and novels, that challenge the imposition of colonial, gender, or capitalist temporal orders, the book reveals how storytelling can be an essential tool in questioning and pushing back against coercive temporal structures.

The book analyses literary representations of time that challenge dominant temporalities and intersect different disciplines such as gender and sexuality studies, trauma and Indigenous studies, race and identity, and religion. It features narrative analyses proposing alternative embodied experiences of time, focusing on topics including the temporality of the AIDS-affected body, the experience of time in prison, and slowness in opposition to modern acceleration. Ultimately, Alternative Temporalities aims to create new theories as well as practices that may foster more diverse and inclusive ways of perceiving and embodying time.

Weight: 1g
Dimension: 229 x 152 x 25 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781487551919