“the knowledge that peoples of color are always forced to view themselves through a lens of whiteness.” This strikes me as a potentially powerful signifier, and I wish I had seen more of its explicit application in the story analyses.
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DuBois’s notion of “double consciousness ” i.e. On the theoretical front, Sanchez-Taylor argues that “authors in this collection create a ‘double estrangement’ for science fiction readers,” by which she refers to a juxtaposition of Darko Suvin’s “cognitive estrangement” with W.E.B. Jemisin’s Broken Earth trilogy (2015–2017), be afforded ample space for critical discourse.Īddressing the volume’s subtitle, Sanchez-Taylor observes that “Displacement, diaspora, and marginalization are experiences that are not limited to one race or ethnicity, which is why bringing science fiction authors of color into conversation with one another serves to highlight the diversity of texts working to shift the focus of science fiction away from a Eurocentric perspective.” While she acknowledges that of the “the various movements fighting for a more diverse representation and interpretation within science fiction” each “deserves recognition in its own right, and… has attributes unique to specific races, ethnicities, and cultures,” there is also “a need for science fiction authors and critics of color to recognize the similarities of their science-fictional experiences, specifically those of colonization, diaspora, alienation, xenophobia, and gas-lighting….” The potential that Sanchez-Taylor identifies “for science fiction authors of color to learn from races and cultures outside their experience” speaks to the core possibilities of a genre putatively wedded to the infinite. These include Celu Amberstone’s “Refugees”, Rosaura Sánchez & Beatrice Pita’s Lunar Braceros 2125–2148, and Gina Ruiz’s “Chanclas and Aliens” in Chapter 1, which explores how the tropes of space travel and first contact can “disrupt narratives of colonization” Larissa Lai’s Salt Fish Girl in Chapter 2, focused on how fictional genetic engineering, mutation, and manipulation can “critique the history of scientifically justified violence against peoples of color” Sabrina Vourvoulias’s Ink, Gabby Rivera’s “O.1”, and Ling Ma’s Severance in Chapter 3, centered on post-apocalyptic narratives and “race blind” futures and Carlos Hernandez’s “The Assimilated Cuban’s Guide to Quantum Santeria” and Rivers Solomon’s An Unkindness of Ghosts in Chapter 4, which explores narrative integration of elements from “Eurowestern and Indigenous sciences and technologies.” I appreciate the inclusion of short stories alongside novels in these discussions, and it’s also exciting to see relatively recent books of genre import, such as Nnedi Okorafor’s The Book of Phoenix (2015) and N. Butler’s Dawn and Fledgling, Ted Chiang’s “Story of Your Life”, Tananarive Due’s African Immortals series, Nalo Hopkinson’s Brown Girl in the Ring, and Colson Whitehead’s Zone One, alongside a host of narratives that, to the best of my knowledge, have received less critical attention. In her Introduction to Diverse Futures, Joy Sanchez-Taylor writes that this “project hopes to draw attention to science fiction authors of color who are often overlooked by critics and publishers when categorized into strict ethnic literary subgenres rather than being included in the broader genre of science fiction.” Throughout four chapters, arranged thematically rather than chronologically so as to illustrate commonalities as well as disparities in approach to selected themes and tropes, Sanchez-Taylor examines in detail well-known works, such as Octavia E.
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Diverse Futures: Science Fiction and Authors of Color, Joy Sanchez-Taylor ( Ohio State University Press 978-0814257975, $29.95, 188pp, pb) August 2021.