The Anti-Dystopians

Latest Episodes:

Public, Private and DOGE - Hybrid Sovereignty with Swati Srivastava Feb 24, 2025

Show notes

This week, Alina Utrata talks to Swati Srivastava, an Associate Professor of Political Science at Purdue University and a Faculty Associate at Harvard University's Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society. They discussed Swati’s work on hybrid sovereignty, private actors in global governance — and, yes, of course, Elon Musk. Listen to hear about why the classic distinctions between public and private power is much messier than we think, what discussions of sovereignty can tell us about corporate power, and what might be new about these new technology companies and algorithmic governance.

For a complete reading list from the episode, check out the Anti-Dystopians substack at bit.ly/3kuGM5X.

You can follow Alina Utrata on Bluesky at @alinau27.bsky.social

All episodes of the Anti-Dystopians are hosted and produced by Alina Utrata and are freely available to all listeners. To support the production of the show, subscribe to the newsletter at bit.ly/3kuGM5X.

Nowhere Land by Kevin MacLeod

Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4148-nowhere-land

License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

From DOGE to Subsea Cables: Global Infrastructures and Corporate Control Feb 10, 2025

Show notes

In this episode, Alina Utrata talks to Andrew Dougall, a departmental lecturer in international relations at DPIR and associate member at St Antony’s college at Oxford University. They discuss Andrew’s work on global infrastructures and corporate control in the international system, from DOGE to subsea cables. What are global infrastructures? Who, historically, has built them? Are platform companies like Meta and Twitter really so unique, or do builders and controlled of networked infrastructure always have political power? And do states or empires really have the ability to control them?

For a complete reading list from the episode, check out the Anti-Dystopians substack at bit.ly/3kuGM5X.

You can follow Alina Utrata on Bluesky at @alinau27.bsky.social

Nowhere Land by Kevin MacLeod

Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4148-nowhere-land

License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Final Fun-Tier: WALL-E, Treasure Planet and Disney’s Nazi Rocket Scientist Dec 16, 2024

Show notes

In this episode, Alina Utrata talks to Rowena Squires, a PhD Candidate in Children’s Literature at Cambridge University. They discuss the strange legacy of the depiction of outer space in children’s animation. From the (not-so-cute-after-all) robot and the consumerist environmental collapse of Earth in WALL-E, the re-telling of colonial narratives of the frontier in Treasure Planet and Lightyear, to Walt Disney’s relationship with the former rocket scientist Werner von Braun in selling the American public on space and Space Mountain. They ask what are better ways of imagining outer space, and the human relationship to nature on Earth and in the stars (and viewing recommendations for your holiday break this year)?

For a complete reading list from the episode, check out the Anti-Dystopians substack at bit.ly/3kuGM5X.

You can follow Alina Utrata on Bluesky at @alinau27.bsky.social

Nowhere Land by Kevin MacLeod

Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4148-nowhere-land

License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

South Africa and Silicon Valley: From Gold Mines to Elon Musk Dec 01, 2024

Show notes

In this episode, Alina Utrata talks to Dr. Tim Karayiannides, a junior research fellow at Emmanuel College, about his recent article about the similarities and connections between South Africa and Silicon Valley. While Elon Musk’s childhood in apartheid in South Africa is sometimes cited as an explanation for his far-right views, there is in fact a much deeper history of connection between Californian and South Africa — from exporting gold mining engineers, to the establishment of technical universities, computer engineers who joined finance, to the histories of eugenics and racial capitalism.

For a complete reading list from the episode, check out the Anti-Dystopians substack at bit.ly/3kuGM5X.

You can follow Alina Utrata on Bluesky at @alinau27.bsky.social

Nowhere Land by Kevin MacLeod

Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4148-nowhere-land

License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

From the Suez Canal Company to SpaceX: Experts, Expertise, Science in the Political Nov 18, 2024

Show notes

On this week’s podcast, Alina Utrata talks to Jan Eijking, a William Golding Junior Research Fellow and Martin Fellow at Oxford University. Jan’s work is based in international relations, and focuses on expertise, empire, capitalism and the history and theory of international organizations. They talked about everything from the Suez Canal Company to SpaceX — and how thinking about “experts,” expertise in politics can have a lot to say about the recent elections, the Silicon Valley engineers plans, but also the wider history of these infrastructural projects in empire.

For a complete reading list from the episode, check out the Anti-Dystopians substack at bit.ly/3kuGM5X.

You can follow Alina Utrata on Bluesky at @alinau27.bsky.social and Jan Eijking at @janeijking.bsky.social.

Nowhere Land by Kevin MacLeod

Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4148-nowhere-land

License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Engineering Territory: Silicon Valley in Space Dec 07, 2023

Show notes

On this episode of the Anti-Dystopians, your usual host is in the hot seat! Guest host Benjamin Tan, PhD Candidate at Cambridge, asks Alina Utrata about her recent publication in the American Political Science Review about Silicon Valley's outer space colonization projects. They discuss what Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk are up to in space, why terrestrial and celestial colonization are not as different as they may seem, what the history of the British East India Company can tell us about SpaceX and Blue Origin, and why indigenous conceptions of property can problematize sovereignty and territoriality and the way we think about political power and rule today.

For a complete reading list from the episode, check out the Anti-Dystopians substack at bit.ly/3kuGM5X.

You can follow Alina Utrata on Twitter @alinautrata and the Anti-Dystopians podcast @AntiDystopians.

Nowhere Land by Kevin MacLeod

Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4148-nowhere-land

License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Digital Misogynoir Sep 18, 2023

Show notes

In this episode of the Anti-Dystopians, Alina Utrata speaks with Julia Slupska, Olivia Andrews and Hilary Watson about a recent report by Glitch UK entitled "Digital Misogynoir: Ending the dehumanising of Black women on social media." They discuss why Black women are uniquely targeted and harmed online, the importance of centering intersectionality in discussing digital harms, the difficulties of conducting (and finding funding) for this kind of research and why Glitch is calling on tech companies, governments and civil societies to address these issues.

For a complete reading list from the episode, check out the Anti-Dystopians substack at bit.ly/3kuGM5X.

You can follow Alina Utrata on Twitter @alinautrata and the Anti-Dystopians podcast @AntiDystopians.

Nowhere Land by Kevin MacLeod

Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4148-nowhere-land

License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Political Economy, AI and the Politics of Knowledge Aug 28, 2023

Show notes

For this episode of the Anti-Dystopians, Alina Utrata spoke with Catriona Gray, a PhD at the University of Bath working at the intersection of sociology, politics, and law on the adoption of AI technologies. They discussed the political economy of data and whether frameworks like ‘data is the new oil’ are helpful to understanding these relationships; what is new about the technological structures or dynamics that have been created today; thinking about the inequities between the Global North and the Global South, and how these relates to existing and historical relationships; and the implementation and conceptualization of AI regulation in governments and beyond.

For a complete reading list from the episode, check out the Anti-Dystopians substack at bit.ly/3kuGM5X.

You can follow Alina Utrata on Twitter @alinautrata and the Anti-Dystopians podcast @AntiDystopians.

Nowhere Land by Kevin MacLeod

Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4148-nowhere-land

License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"Automating Apartheid": Facial Recognition Tech in Palestine Aug 21, 2023

Show notes

For this episode of the Anti-Dystopians, Alina Utrata talks to Dr Matt Mahmoudi, the lead researcher on the Amnesty International report "Automating Apartheid" examining the deployment of facial recognition technology in Palestine. They discuss the report's findings, including how this facial recognition technology is being deployed against Palestinians in the Occupied Territories and consolidates existing practices of discriminatory policing; why these systems have been 'gamified' and how they connect to other infrastructures and databases; how this is affecting Palestinians’ lives; and whether existing CCTV systems in other settings — including London — could be repurposed for similar kinds of militarized policing.

For a complete reading list from the episode, check out the Anti-Dystopians substack at bit.ly/3kuGM5X.

You can follow Alina Utrata on Twitter @alinautrata and the Anti-Dystopians podcast @AntiDystopians.

Nowhere Land by Kevin MacLeod

Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4148-nowhere-land

License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Data colonialism and its discontents Apr 10, 2023

Show notes

On this week’s episode of The Anti-Dystopians, Alina Utrata spoke to Paola Ricurate, an associate professor in the Department of Media and Digital Culture at Tecnológico de Monterrey and faculty associate at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University and the co-founder of the Tierra Comun Network, and Sebastián Leheude, a Postdoctoral Scholar at the Centre of Governance and Human Rights and a Technology & Human Rights Fellow at the Carr Center for Human Rights at Harvard University. They discussed Paola and Sebastian’s work on data colonialism, decoloniality and feminism and Latin America. What is the connection between historic forms of colonialism and what technology infrastructures are being built now? Why are tech companies building data centers (and swimming pools) in the desert? How are local communities resisting these infrastructures and what are alternative ways of imagining our future?

For a complete reading list from the episode, check out the Anti-Dystopians substack at bit.ly/3kuGM5X.

You can follow Alina Utrata on Twitter @alinautrata and the Anti-Dystopians podcast @AntiDystopians.

Nowhere Land by Kevin MacLeod

Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4148-nowhere-land

License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.