Tuesday, August 24, 2021
This presentation considers the rise, fall, and rediscovery of an important group of science fiction authors at the start of the twentieth century who challenged themes of imperialism that were drawn by authors to support racist ideologies. At the beginning of the 20th century, a circular ideology supported imperial expansion: white men were the best at advancing science and technology, and science and technology were activities that white men did most efficiently. It was at this time that a group of U.S. authors embraced the term science fiction, and the colonial racism can easily be found in several generations of authors. In recent years, however, authors who challenged racism and imperialism in the early years have become better known. They were written out of the genre after the 1950s, but in the early years authors like Claire Winger Harris, L. Taylor Hansen, Leslie F. Stone, and C.L. Moore were well-known counterpoints to the unrelenting tales of racial hierarchies.
Speaker: Chris Leslie, South China University of Technology
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