ABSTRACT
This chapter explores and excavates the theme of utopia and simultaneous strains of utopianism running through the writings of Zygmunt Bauman and particularly his thesis of the transformation of utopia as modernity has progressed. The chapter seeks to show how an understanding of utopia and utopianism might serve as a valuable prism to appreciate and analyze the unique human-way-of-being-in-the-world. George Steiner once declared that utopia had become just another boring Monday morning and Michel Maffesoli claimed that 'utopias become commonplace'. Utopia is a tricky term and there are almost as many definitions of utopia as there are utopians or critics of utopia. Taking up utopia in the 1970s was at the same time a daunting and rather obvious thing to do. This was a time when economic crisis, Cold War, political terrorism and democratic turmoil were the order of the day. Bauman captures the utopias of solid modernity with the phrase gardening utopias.
