The Role and Effect of Writers of Color in Science Fiction
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Duke University The Role and Effect of Writers of Color in Science Fiction Shyam Pradheep Writing 293 Pradheep 2 Abstract There has been a substantial influx of writers of color within science fiction over the last few decades, but there has been little documentation of how these writers have changed a genre that was created and shaped by white American and European writers. My essay will explore the role and effects of writers of color in science fiction by engaging with the challenge of how science fiction is defined and understood by writers and scholars in the past and in the present. Science fiction primarily deals with the future and hence is a window into how different authors view the future. While white writers tend to imagine futures that disregard racial differences and center white characters to the exclusion of others, my essay argues that writers of color incorporate race into their texts as a way of redefining the genre and the future by moving away from the racial homogeneity that previously dominated science fiction texts. They do this by placing people of color within their works as protagonists instead of as supporting characters. Writers of color logically extrapolate the current state of race relations into the future and hence represent a more realistic vision of the future with regards to race. The essay also takes a closer look at movements such as Afrofuturism and the tropes of Techno-Orientalism. Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower will be used as a guiding text to review how Afrofuturism enables race to play a dominant role in science fiction novels. Concurrently, Chang Rae Lee’s On Such a Full Sea will also be incorporated into the essay to evaluate how writing back to the tropes of Techno-Orientalism can be used to empower people of Asian heritage. Additionally, both the aforementioned movements encompass the positive and negative ways in which technological advancements can manifest in the future. My essay details race’s pivotal role in science fiction novels and as a consequence, why it is important for more recognition to be given to writers of Pradheep 3 color as their redefinition of the future could very well influence how we as a society better shape the future. Introduction A group called the “Sad Puppies” may sound appealing, but this hate-mongering crowd is anything but endearing. The group has played a consequential role in in stirring up controversies at the Hugo Awards – which honor achievement in science fiction and fantasy works – during 2015 and 2016. The members of this organization tried to take advantage of an arcane voting loophole in order to get a large number of votes for writers that they preferred, thereby pushing out deserving writers who were female, homosexual, or non-white. The “Puppies,” as they like to call themselves, further put up a list of authors that they endorsed and urged others to vote for them (Wallace 1). In response to this Author Amy Wallace stated, Would sci-fi focus, as it has for much of its history, largely on brave white male engineers with ray guns fighting either a) hideous aliens or b) hideous governments who don’t want them to mine asteroids in space? Or would it continue its embrace of a broader sci-fi: stories about non-traditionally gendered explorers and post- singularity, post-ethnic characters who are sometimes not men and often even have feelings (Wallace 1). However, The Puppies did not get their way. Authors of color such as Nnedi Okarafor, N.K. Jemisin, Hao Jinfang, and Ellen Datlow won awards defying the expectations of the “Puppies” (Schaub). Voters came out in droves in order to reject the Puppies’ message. In 2016, Pradheep 4 more than 65 percent more voters had voted than ever before (Wallace). This is a trend that should not go unnoticed. Writers of color have been gaining prominence over the past couple of years while placing front and center themes of race and discrimination – and readers are responding to their message. This is particularly important as it emphasizes that readers not only hope to have more writers of color but also are cognizant of the importance of giving these writers a space to receive the recognition they deserve. This paper will to aim to answer a number of questions: how has science fiction as a genre imagined the future of race? How are people of color redefining this future? And why does it matter? In attempting to answer these questions, this paper will look at two different movements: Afrofuturism and writing back to the tropes of Techno-Orientalism; specifically, how these two movements recenter narratives to empower people of color. Science Fiction and Writers of Color Aliens, robots, and technology are some of the more frequent words that are associated with “science fiction”. However, it is necessary to consider whether that is all there is to science fiction. Science deals with quantifiable and concrete observations. On the other hand, fiction refers to works that are fabricated or imaginary. Science and fiction seem like an unlikely pair, but when combined with each other, they represent two sides of the same coin. Science fiction describes what humans, as a species, aspire to gain from science. Much like how Jules Verne in Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea managed to describe a large portion of modern day submarines well before their time, science fiction hopes to push the limits of what humans can and want to achieve. Pradheep 5 While there are ideas that are generally accepted to be part of science fiction as a genre, there appears to be a lack of consensus on a strict definition. Critic John Rieder reminds us that they are “a scholarly necessity… the problem of definition testifies to its importance in establishing a framework for constructing the history of the genre, specifying its range and extent, locating its principle sites of production and reception, selecting its canon of masterpieces, and so on” (Rieder 191). Definitions also help better identify instances where a change took place. While genres are constantly growing through the addition of new works, having a fixed definition allows for continued discourse on how these works have either shifted an earlier perception of the genre or have fallen within our expectations of it. American-Canadian sci-fi author Judith Merill defines it as “tomorrow’s machines today” (Merril 37). But as science fiction critic Paul Kincaid notes, “Science fiction is not one thing. Rather it is any number of things” (Kincaid 416). Kincaid further states that it is impossible to “extract a unique, common thread” from all science fiction texts (Kincaid 415). Rieder puts forth several axioms in order to help classify texts. Two of his axioms include: “sf is mutable and historical” and “sf is not a set of texts, but rather a way of using texts and of drawing relationships among them” (Rieder 193). Because science fiction extrapolates the future based on the present and the past, it makes sense that history should dictate the future. Authors who disregard history as merely a product of circumstances in the past choose to be wilfully ignorant of the power of history. But as Rieder’s second axiom points out, science fiction relies less on the content of the text and more on how the content is used – a text does not have to contain aliens, robots, or technology to be considered science fiction. Science fiction texts don’t have to have a fixed formula to them and can and should assimilate aspects of current societal issues into them when extrapolating the future. Pradheep 6 American author John W. Campbell started the golden era of science fiction and set the precedent for science fiction to be understood as an “application of technological developments to human problems; the application of human development to technology” (Merill 42). The second part of the definition is particularly important in understanding science fiction. Technology, for the most part, has evolved in order to accommodate mankind’s needs. However, in science fiction, where the only limit is the author’s imagination, technology has evolved to accommodate mankind’s desires as well – for better or for worse. Technology took center stage and eclipsed all other aspects of life that affected humans before its evolution. White American or European authors who have long dominated the field of science fiction have applied the first half of Campbell’s definition in its entirety while largely ignoring the second half of his definition that spoke about “the application of human development to technology.” Most of their texts remained homogenous in their construct and did not take into consideration social and racial inequality when writing about how humans responded to a sudden growth in technology. Race relations have been an extremely pressing issue in the past and are still currently a point of strife in societies all across America. But oftentimes science fiction authors take the liberty to quell the very idea of race as an important aspect of identity in in the future. Harmony among races and the idea of humanity uniting as one in the future became commonplace in science fiction texts across the world. However, in hindsight, when we look at these works, it is painfully evident that they are not accurate extrapolations of the past or the present, as race is inextricably woven into the fabric of our society. There is no evidence that an increase in technological capabilities has had a direct correlation with better race relations. White American and European authors tend to place their own culture and heritage at the center of the human race.