“He Are the People”
| Title | “He Are the People” |
| Year for Search | 2019 |
| Authors | Shafak, Elif(b. 1971) |
| Secondary Title | McSweeney’s 58. 2040 A.D. |
| Volume / Edition | 58 |
| Pagination | 88-97 |
| Date Published | 2019 |
| Publisher | McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern |
| Place Published | San Francisco, CA |
| Keywords | Female author, Turkish author, UK author |
| Annotation | The story is set in an Istanbul by climate change with most birds, insects, and plants dead. The wealthiest of all countries had formed an alliance and were planning to escape to another planet. Authoritarian dystopia in Turkey. Parliament dissolved itself giving all power to the President, who has renamed himself “WeAreThePeople” with the people now known as “ThePresident”. Voting based on education (the more educated get fewer votes), and age, with the elderly getting more votes and ethnic and sexual minorities getting the fewest votes. Refugees get no votes. |
| Info Notes | The authors of the stories were each “assigned a specific climate event mentioned” in the 2018 UN climate report collaborating with experts recommended by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) who “provide a scientific backbone” for the stories while giving the writers free rein to determine how closely they adhered to that science” (6-7). The Introduction to the volume (7-12) is by Susan Casey-Lefkowitz, Chief Program Officer of the NDRC. |
| Illustration | Illus. Wesley Allsbrook |
| Holding Institutions | PSt, PU |
| Author Note | The female author (b. 1971) was born in France, raised, and educated in Turkey, holds a PhD in Political Science from Middle East Technical University in Ankara, and has taught in Turkey, the US, and the UK, where she is an Honorary Fellow of St. Anne’s College, University of Oxford. |
| Full Text | 2019 Shafak, Elif (b. 1971). “He Are the People.” Illus. Wesley Allsbrook. McSweeney’s 58. 2040 A.D. (San Francisco, CA: McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern, 2019), 88-97. PSt, PU 2019 Shafak, Elif. “He Are the People.” Illus. Wesley Allsbrook. 2040 A.D. McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern 58 (Winter 2019): 89-97. PSt, PU The story is set in an Istanbul by climate change with most birds, insects, and plants dead. The wealthiest of all countries had formed an alliance and were planning to escape to another planet. Authoritarian dystopia in Turkey. Parliament dissolved itself giving all power to the President, who has renamed himself “WeAreThePeople” with the people now known as “ThePresident”. Voting based on education (the more educated get fewer votes), and age, with the elderly getting more votes and ethnic and sexual minorities getting the fewest votes. Refugees get no votes. The authors of the stories were each “assigned a specific climate event mentioned” in the 2018 UN climate report collaborating with experts recommended by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) who “provide a scientific backbone” for the stories while giving the writers free rein to determine how closely they adhered to that science” (6-7). The Introduction to the volume (7-12) is by Susan Casey-Lefkowitz, Chief Program Officer of the NDRC. The female author was born in France, raised, and educated in Turkey, holds a PhD in Political Science from Middle East Technical University in Ankara, and has taught in Turkey, the US, and the UK, where she is an Honorary Fellow of St. Anne’s College, University of Oxford. |
