Alternative Temporalities: The Emancipatory Power of Narrative

Alternative temporalities have often emerged as a reaction to the normativizing force of time, demonstrating that time can be used as an instrument of power and oppression, but also as a means to resist this very oppression. Alternative Temporalities draws on analyses of modern literature to examine this often-neglected role of time. By exploring 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.