MANCEPT 2025 

Intimate utopias: what do they look like, and how do we get there?

There have been many attempts to imagine utopian societies, but these efforts often focus on changes to the public sphere; to how we work, how society is structured, and how we will be governed. Less attention has been directed to changes in our intimate lives. This workshop aims to explore the future of intimacy in all its forms - from friendship, family life, romantic relationships or collegiality. What does good intimacy look like? What social, legal, cultural, or personal changes are required to enact these futures? How are we currently being held-back? Is utopian intimacy possible?

We invite proposals of no more than 500 words, for a presentation of approximately 30 minutes, to engage with the utopian politics of intimacy. Here is a non-exclusive list of some indicative themes:

Possible topics:

• Intimacy in online and digital spaces • Intimacy and augmented reality • Chatbots and intimacy: therapy, love and digital duplicates • Robots: sex, love, friendship • Social norms of intimacy: e.g. amatonormativity, sex-negativity etc. • Relationship styles: relationship anarchy, polyamory, aromanticism • Relationship ideals: love, friendship, collegiality • Intimate practices: consent, communication, designing relationships • Alternatives to/abolition of the family • Intimacy and architecture: cities and buildings; schools, prisons, workplaces • Intimacy and fantasy: BDSM, imaginary friendships, porn • Paying for intimacy • The role of the state in relationships • Methodology: ideal vs. non-ideal approaches to intimacy

We actively welcome in-progress work and seek to foster a friendly and collaborative environment. PhD students, post-docs, and ECR are especially welcome. We are also receptive to interdisciplinary explorations of these ideas, provided they are accessible to the non-specialist.

MANCEPT workshops are held in-person only, in Manchester.

Abstract submission deadline: 9th of May, 2025

Please send your abstract to:l.brunning1@leeds.ac.uk or S.Goddard@leeds.ac.uk