Anyone who thinks science fiction is about the future is being naive. Science fiction doesn’t predict the future; it determines it, colonises it, preprograms it in the image of the present.
—William Gibson1
The latest issue of the Journal Contexto International, a special issue on “Tropical Utopia, Tropical Dystopia: Global South Science Fiction and Critical Approaches to International Politics,” explores how this William Gibson’s idea is hidden behind politics and international relationships, with a special focus on Science Fiction in the Global South.
There has been a growing interest within the field of International Relations inusing popular culture, especially Sci-Fi, to think about and teach International Relations (…) both theory and science fiction, despite their differences, can provide important thinking spaces for the broadening of our understanding of current issues and the conception of alternative futures.
We begin by briefly describing the evolution of Sci-Fi as a genre, emphasizing its connections to historical contexts and Eurocentric perceptions. We follow by introducing some trends in Global South Science Fiction and end with an analysis of some issues at the intersection of IR and SF.
Let me cherry pick a few interesting notes:
In Memories of Future Empire: The Productive Effects of Imperial Imaginaries in Science Fiction – An Analysis of The Expanse2, the authors use the series The Expanse as a guide and inspiration. They emphasize the social dimension of imagination, and affirm that “future imaginaries” are profoundly political and yield valuable insights for social analysis. Darko Suvin’s notion of estrangement permits the reader to accept the possibility of others states of existence,
Imperial imaginaries not only forged our past, but still seem to manifest productive effects, influencing our capacities to think about the future. In that regard, we identify Science Fiction as a political battleground where imaginaries are produced, reinforced and challenged. Engaging critically with the literature, and cultural artefacts from the genre, we propose the notion of Future Imperial Imaginaries. We utilise this conceptual advancement to talk about coming worlds that would force us to relive colonial practices of the past, and thus foreclose future alternative political imaginaries.
In El Eternauta (1976): Science Fiction against Imperialism3, the authors analyse the 1976 edition of the Argentinean comic book El Eternauta, created by the writer Héctor Germán Oesterheld and illustrated by Francisco Solano Lopez. They used comics to denounce the imperialism imposed in Latin America.
There is an intrinsic relationship between comic books and science fiction. Argentina has made a valuable contribution to the symbiosis between comics and science fiction in Latin America. The story behind this story is terrible!
El Eternauta is a graphic novel that depicts an alien invasion on Earth. The story reflects the political changes that were taking place in Argentina at the time, as the country was becoming more politically radicalised. The paper specifically discusses the 1976 edition, which was written by Héctor Germán Oesterheld, an underground militant in the armed struggle, and illustrated by Solano López. The scriptwriter and his family actively resisted the repressive military government and were harshly persecuted. This led to the disappearance of family members, including the writer himself, during the year that the analysed version of El Eternauta was published. The methodology uses comics as a primary empirical source, combined with theoretical references from the fields of international relations, history, political science, and communication to interpret the context of the military dictatorships that ravaged Latin America in the second half of the 20th century.
In The Development of Chinese and Cuban Science Fiction in Comparative Perspective: From Colonialism to Revolution and Beyond4, the authors explore the literary genre of science fiction as a tool for historical and political analysis, focusing specifically on the development and transformation of the genre in China and Cuba.
In both countries SF was initially introduced as a foreign genre but was soon appropriated by intellectual circles to promote nationalism and, following their political revolutions, the ideals of socialism and the concept of the ‘new socialist man.’
utopian science fiction became an important means to educate the population on science, technology, and to propagate specific visions for the future in those countries
In both countries, it is possible to explain the consolidation of the science fiction genre as a process divided into three distinct phases: first, the consolidation of a new literary genre inspired by its European counterpart, being slowly aligned with the need for envisioning a new future with nationalist aspirations; second, the instrumentalization of the genre as a means of education and social cohesion; and third, a new phase possible because of the political reforms that allowed the uses of new styles and narratives.
Within Latin American intellectual circles, including Cuba, science fiction was regarded as a foreign genre, often relegated to children’s literature,
During the 1950s and 1960s, both Cuba and China implemented a plethora of cultural and educational programs through their regimes.
In China, right at the beginning of Mao Zedong’s regime, inspired by the Soviet experience, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) encouraged the reading of science fiction literature as a way to propel young people’s interest in science and technology, but also to engage them in the regime’s vision for the future of the country based on socialist values,
The same process occurred in Cuba during the early years of the revolutionary government,
the works of science fiction allowed in both countries were very restricted to the soviet canon; the preferred ones were usually works of ‘hard science fiction’, sci-fi novels that did not engage in fantastic or scientifically disruptive narratives, dystopias were also restricted
The two novels chosen to illustrate these ideas are Chan Koonchung’s The Fat Years and Eric Mota’s Habana Underguater.
Next time you are reading a science fiction story, stop to think who is trying to programme your mind.
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- Quoted in Reference (2) ↩︎
- Percoco, Juan Ignacio, y Virginia Labiano. «Memories of Future Empire: The Productive Effects of Imperial Imaginaries in Science Fiction – An Analysis of The Expanse». Contexto Internacional 46 (16 de diciembre de 2024): e20230058. https://doi.org/10.1590/S0102-8529.20244603e20230058. ↩︎
- Malta, Marcio José Melo, y Hiago André Duarte De Albuquerque. «El Eternauta (1976): Science Fiction against Imperialism». Contexto Internacional 46, n.º 3 (2024): e20220050. https://doi.org/10.1590/s0102-8529.20244603e20220050. ↩︎
- Barbosa, Laura Pimentel. «The Development of Chinese and Cuban Science Fiction in Comparative Perspective: From Colonialism to Revolution and Beyond». Contexto Internacional 46 (16 de diciembre de 2024): e20230065. https://doi.org/10.1590/S0102-8529.20244603e20230065. ↩︎
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