Generations of Russians schooled during and after the Soviet Union were taught that Russia's imperial expansion took place peacefully. In this version of history, Russia was always reacting to western aggression. Sound familiar?

The planet, as authoritarian capitalism's plaything, is subject to real-world economic-ecological downward spirals. And yet exorbitant space exploration projects continue to build escapist dreams on extractivism. And the threat of nuclear war continues to push at the limits of tenuous environmental stability.

Climate change affects us all yet not equally. The plight of those forced to migrate as a result - often called 'climate refugees', though not officially - has become contested ground between human rights/environmental activists and anti-asylum lobbyists. Could 'ecologically displaced', avoiding racialization, xenophobia and division, be a viable alternative?

Postmodern ideas have gained the status of absolute truths. Relativism, selectively appropriated into the language of both left and right politics, has metamorphosed into dogma. As oversimplification distorts communication, public trust in scientific fact has eroded. Could renewed ideas of objectivity be a way out?

Taking on imperial knowledge, cultural denial and dogmatic absolutism requires authors who can find their way around tricky narrative strategies.