In a world in which political opportunity and liberation seem far away, the genre of science fiction grows in cultural importance and popularity. The contributors to this collection are political and social theorists from a range of disciplines who use science fiction as inspiration for new theories and examples of speculative politics. In dystopian governments, they find locations and forms of resistance. Representations of Political Resistance and Emancipation in Science Fiction explores a range of political and social theoretical concerns for the twenty-first century. Contributors analyze themes of post-humanism, resistance, agency, political community making, and ethics and politics during the Anthropocene.
Judith Grant is professor in political science at Ohio University. Sean Parson is associate professor in the department of Politics and International Affairs and the Masters Program in Sustainable Communities at Northern Arizona University.
Introduction: The Future is Unwritten: Political Agency and Radical Change in a Science Fiction" Judith Grant and Sean Parson Part I: Collapse and Rebuilding Chapter One: Dystopia, Apocalypse, and Other Things to Look Forward to: Reading for Radical Hope in the Fiction of Fear Matthew Cole Chapter Two: Mirror, Mirror: The Tragic Vision of Star TrekDiscovery Libby Barringer Chapter Three: Beginning Again: Jericho, Revolution, and Catastrophic Originalism Ira Allen Part II: Resistance and Survival Chapter Four: "We Survived You": Resisting Eugenic Imaginaries through Feminist Speculative Fiction Jess Whatcott Chapter Five: Wakanda Forever: Black Panther in Black Political Thought Deborah Thompson Chapter Six: A Politics of Drowning: Theorizing Action in the Anthropocene through JG Ballard's The Drowned World Chase Hobbs-Morgan Part III: Reconstructing Our World: Space and Place Chapter Seven: The Ambiguities of Critical Desire: Utopia and Heterotopia in Ursula K. Le Guin's The Dispossessed and Samuel R. Delany's Trouble on Triton Michael Lipscomb Chapter Eight: Politicizing Cities in China Mieville's Speculative Fiction Andrew Uzendoski and Caleb Gallemore Chapter Nine: Stranger than Fiction: Silicon Valley and the Politics of Space Colonization Emily Ray Part IV: Reconstructing Ourselves: Identity and Agency Chapter Ten: A Future is Female: Loving Animals and Scientific Romance Claire E. Rasmussen Chapter Eleven: Finding Liberation and Futurity in the Sentient Spaceships of Leckie, Chambers, and Okorafor Laurie Ringer Chapter Twelve: What Do We Lose When We Become Posthuman?: Paolo Bacigalupi's "The People of Sand and Slag" and the Politics of Recognition Michael Uhall
