فائزه حسین زادگان

This study employs an in-depth qualitative methodology, focusing on interviews with women born in the ۱۹۷۰s, to explore the concept of dystopia from a female perspective. Grounded in the premise that women’s lived and subjective experiences can illuminate nuanced dimensions of dystopia often obscured by generalized or theoretical analyses, the research adopts a phenomenological approach. The interviews were meticulously designed to uncover and analyze the factors that perpetuate feelings of restriction, despair, and systemic social control in women’s everyday lives.

Through this framework, the study seeks to interrogate the multifaceted meanings of dystopia as reflected in women’s collective memory and their personal lived realities. The findings reveal that future-oriented anxiety, the normalization of crisis conditions, and the suppression of social imagination collectively contribute to constructing the present as a dystopian reality in the minds of individuals. This confluence necessitates a critical reevaluation of social and economic policies, emphasizing the urgent need for spaces that foster the reconstruction of hope and the revitalization of social imagination. Without such interventions, society risks being e  ared in a cycle of passivity, pessimism, and despair, which undermines individual agency and the potential for transformative social activism.

Equating the present with dystopia also erodes individuals’ capacity to envision long-term, actionable horizons, reinforcing conservative tendencies that prioritize mere survival over progress. This dynamic diminishes social cohesion and stifles collective aspirations for change. On a broader scale, this perspective jeopardizes societal stability, as it instills a pervasive belief that systemic transformation is unattainable, thereby accelerating the potential for gradual societal disintegration.