How Fascism Becomes Ordinary

Reading The Man in the High Castle

This small-group reading seminar explores Philip K. Dick’s remarkable novel The Man in the High Castle as a lens for thinking about power, reality, and the fragile nature of democratic life.

Written in 1962, the novel imagines a world in which the Axis powers won the Second World War. But beyond its alternate history, it is a profound exploration of how authoritarian systems shape everyday life, how truth becomes unstable, and how individuals navigate power, fear, and survival.

At a time when democratic institutions across the world appear increasingly fragile, the book raises unsettling questions:

• How does authoritarianism become normalised?
• How do people adapt to oppressive systems?
• What happens to truth when reality itself becomes ideological?
• Where do resistance and imagination begin?

This seminar offers a space for slow, thoughtful reading and discussion of the novel in relation to contemporary political and social questions.

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Format

Small-group online seminar.

Participants read the novel in advance and meet for three facilitated discussions.

Each session combines:

• close reading of key passages
• philosophical and political interpretation
• facilitated dialogue among participants

Maximum participants: 15

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Schedule

Session 1 — 20 June
Parallel worlds and ideological reality

Session 2 — 27 June
Compliance, collaboration, and everyday authoritarianism

Session 3 — 4 July
Truth, imagination, and resistance

Each session: 2 hours
Online (link provided upon registration)

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Facilitator

Milena Stateva, PhD

Milena Stateva works internationally as a facilitator, researcher, and organisational consultant. Her work explores the intersection between political thought, organisational life, and the psychology of institutions.

She is the founder of Orion Grid for Leadership and Authority, an initiative supporting activists, knowledge workers, and organisations through reflective spaces and process facilitation.

This seminar is hosted through her independent consultancy practice.

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Who this seminar is for

The seminar may be of interest to:

• activists and civil society practitioners
• academics and researchers
• policy professionals
• journalists and writers
• anyone interested in the political imagination of fiction

No academic background is required — only curiosity and willingness to engage in thoughtful discussion.

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Participation

Participation fee: €100

Maximum group size: 15 participants

To register, please write to:

milenastatevaltd@gmail.com

Participants will receive reading guidance and the seminar link after registration.

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A final note

Reading together has long been one of the most powerful ways people make sense of difficult times. This seminar invites participants to explore how fiction can illuminate the political realities we inhabit — and how imagination can open space for thought, reflection, and agency.