Science Fiction, Colonialism, and the Plot of Invasion
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Rieder, John

doi:10.3828/extr.2005.46.3.9

Cited by 10 publications

(2 citation statements)

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“…115 Despite speculative fiction's well-established capacity for engaging the politics of postcolonialism, 116 the Vorrh trilogy takes another path (and one which, sadly, is well-trod). Linking sf to colonisation, Rieder reminds us of Said's prescription that the novel and imperialism are 'unthinkable without one another', 117 and -it seems -unwilling to part ways. While Catling's reimagining of the colonial wilderness provides redress for Conrad's criticism of imperialism as an unstoppable force that 'led to the eradication of the world's unknown spaces' 118 -in that the Vorrh series serves remap Africa in blank spaces, zones where explorers may not go for fear of being devoured by the unknown -Catling's reimagining of the colonial wilderness re-imposes imperialism on 'image-Africa' rather than critiquing it.…”

Section: More Remote Than Ever? the West's Unwavering Deterritorialismentioning

confidence: 99%

Reimagining the colonial wilderness: ‘Africa’, imperialism and the geographical legerdemain of the Vorrh

Saunders

2018

cultural geographies

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Novelists and other cultural producers have long employed the African continent as a palimpsest to construct fantastical tales. From Sir John Mandeville to Joseph Conrad, Africa’s blank spaces on the map have been filled with monstrous creatures that fuel the western imagination. As a consequence, this constant othering of the so-called ‘Dark Continent’ has had a deleterious impact for African states and their citizenries, as spectacularly evidenced in U.S. President Donald Trump’s now-infamous labelling of the entire continent as a host of ‘shithole countries’. This article wrestles with the continuation of this trend in popular culture via an empirical examination of the speculative fiction of the British novelist and performance artist, B. Catling. Publishing in 2015, The Vorrh is the first of the three novels set in a parallel Africa, specifically a former German colony that is home to remnants of the Garden of Eden. Focusing on the enchanted forest known as the Vorrh and the colony’s (fictional) capital, Essenwald, this article employs methods drawn from geocriticism and popular geopolitics to interrogate Catling’s built-world. This is done with the aim of connecting structures of iteration in the representation of fictional ‘Africas’ to the West’s imperially inflected geopolitical codes towards the actual physical and human geographies that constitute the world’s second largest and most populous continent.

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Section: More Remote Than Ever? the West's Unwavering Deterritorialismentioning

confidence: 99%

Reimagining the colonial wilderness: ‘Africa’, imperialism and the geographical legerdemain of the Vorrh

Saunders

2018

cultural geographies

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“…The late 19 th century, a period of intense colonial expansion, was a crucial moment in science fiction's emergence, which took place primarily in countries involved in imperialist projects. 7 Themes of exploration and contact with unknown peoples in 'lost race' plots were inspired by tales of imperial adventure, and 'racial disaster' narratives were heavily reliant on racial ideologies tied to colonialism and eugenics. 8 However, John Rieder has emphasised that the science fiction subgenre most influenced by its references to colonialism is the invasion plot.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘More Human than Human’: Colonial Logics and the Modern Subject in Science Fiction Films

Simoneti

2022

Millennium: Journal of International Studies

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Science fiction has often been associated with colonial imaginaries, given its engagement with themes such as invasions and encounters with other civilisations. This article addresses these relations by focusing on the invasion plot subgenre and the nexus between the modern subject and colonial frameworks. It argues that conceptions of subjectivity are a site of symbolic struggle, acting not only as the bases of the reproduction of colonial logics in these narratives, but also as a locus for their disruption. It first analyses Independence Day and War of the Worlds, highlighting how categories such as disembodiment, anthropocentrism and linear progress are crucial in reproducing the modern subject and colonial hierarchies in invasion stories. It then explores Arrival and Annihilation to argue that invasion plots can also present alternative forms of encounter as they disrupt modern subjectivity and colonial frameworks by contesting ideas of disembodiment, identity, progress and the human/nonhuman divide.

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Brioni¹,

Comberiati²

2019

Italian Science Fiction

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Science Fiction, Colonialism, and the Plot of Invasion ¹

Cited by 10 publications

References 1 publication

Reimagining the colonial wilderness: ‘Africa’, imperialism and the geographical legerdemain of the Vorrh

Reimagining the colonial wilderness: ‘Africa’, imperialism and the geographical legerdemain of the Vorrh

‘More Human than Human’: Colonial Logics and the Modern Subject in Science Fiction Films

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Science Fiction, Colonialism, and the Plot of Invasion 1

Cited by 10 publications

References 1 publication

Reimagining the colonial wilderness: ‘Africa’, imperialism and the geographical legerdemain of the Vorrh

Reimagining the colonial wilderness: ‘Africa’, imperialism and the geographical legerdemain of the Vorrh

‘More Human than Human’: Colonial Logics and the Modern Subject in Science Fiction Films

Introduction

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Science Fiction, Colonialism, and the Plot of Invasion ¹