Abstract
This introduction to the special issue of Portal on 'Strange Localities: Utopias, Intellectuals, and Identities' identifies the problematical issues in postmodernism and postcolonial theory that are addressed by the essays in the special issue. It then gives an overview of the findings of the essays, and concludes by suggesting that the utopian impulse continues to be expressed in contemporary thought and writing with the aim of bringing utopian hope into an effective relationship with praxis in the here and now.