Asian Transformations in Action - Api-fellowships.org

108 BLURRED BORDERS AND SOCIAL INTEGRATIONS1) by Altis Studio. The manga-inspired text revolvesaround the story of three friends who become involvedin the development and use of newly developed hi-techfuture weapons in the form of battle suits.Political overtones with specific reference to adeveloping country’s dependence on foreign scienceand technology can be observed in the text. Lookingclosely at the panel introducing the second chapter, wecan see in the background the name of the institutionthat develops these powerful weapons. Realizingwhat the name supposedly pertains to, CEDAR (UNCenter for Research and Defense Facility), readersare not only given information as to what Indonesianbody or establishment may possibly have the capacityin the future to utilize such a level of scientific andtechnological advancement, but are also made privyto the present-day (or, probable future) scenario of adeveloping nation’s continued dependence on foreign(Western) science and technology transfer.Future imperfect, past forward: Imagining the futurein Asian science fictionsWe have seen that Asian scifi is not non-existent, thoughthe literary form is largely seen as a Western culturalproduct. We have noted how necessary it is that wetake a look at how Asian scifis construct and engagea discourse of science that may provide a more criticalview vis-à-vis the hegemonic positioning of Westernistscience in a global setting. By way of a reminder, this sortof discussion on ST in fictive narratives is not unique toAsian scifi. Many Western and various science fictiontexts of post-colonial character are tackling the sameissues and presenting readers the same possible arenafor dialogue. However, focusing on the texts from Asiaaffords us the opportunity to appreciate the same issuesand engage in this dialogue with the particularities ofthe community’s diverse experiences (e.g., as colonialsubjects engaging with past colonizers, as developingnations co-existing with industrialized neighbors, asmodern states that still cherish traditional sensibilities)as our backdrop or foreground. At this point, aside fromthe critical look bestowed upon ST, it is also significantto examine the constructions of the future in Asian scifisto see if they challenge or fortify visions of tomorrowthat thrive in the status quo of today.This is especially important in the context of the ThirdWorld—largely seen as too backward and unindustrializedto cultivate in itself a culture of scientific and futuristicimaginings. However, it is also this very characteristicof technological delay and scientific disenfranchisementthat warrants ample attention to existing articulationsof power relations revolving around the interplay ofscience and technology, development, politics, themilitary and economy, and society and culture.By this time, it is unwise to deny the overbearingsignificance of science and technology in the macroandmicro-spheres of human life. As we have seenin the aforementioned scifi texts from Japan andIndonesia, the future seems to be constructed under theoverhanging aegis of science and technology (i.e., spaceexplorations, cyborgs and AIs, hi-tech battle suits, timemachines, genetic manipulation). From this viewpoint,we can almost taste the future as techno-scientificand definitely picture it as ‘techno-idyllic.’ 8 However,it is also dangerous to overindulge in the unexaminedacceptance of everything that science and moderntechnology offer us as if to say that they are all that weneed in forging a path to tomorrow.This warning is best given voice by the same scifi textsthat, along with the techno-idyllic landscape, envisionthe future as also replete with oppressive anti-humanand sub-human value systems. In the anthology entitledAdministrator (1974) by Mayumura Taku for example,individuals are transformed into mere machines, muchlike robots, by training them to be emotionless andexpressionless—a prerequisite to being unbiased in thetreatment of colonists (called ‘Terrans’ who wish to liveon colonized planets) and the natives of the planets.Aside from a highly significant commentary oncolonization, imperialism and the ethnocentrism ofhuman beings, the ‘Administrator System,’ the mainmetaphor and central image in the narrative, serves asa critique and foreboding about bureaucracy and thereduction of the individual into a mere ‘function’ ofa system where robots (machines) are increasinglydepended upon in various aspects of daily processes inthe forefront of public transactions.This seemingly dystopic depiction of the future dueto the uncritical effluence of technology is especiallycommon in the Japanese texts included in the study.This does not necessarily mean that the Indonesian textsdo not engage in such issues or themes as we can see inits commentary on the pitfalls of advanced technologyin, for example, the novel Lost in Teleporter by TrinaBarmawi, which tells the story of a man who loses hisnose in a ‘teleportation machine’ in the desire to get toBandung (a city in Indonesia) the fastest possible way.This is also not to say that a portrayal of a symbioticrelationship with technology is not to be found in thesaid Japanese texts. It is better to say, in fact, that theJapanese scifi reveals a contradiction when visualizingAsian Transformations in ActionThe Work of the 2006/2007 API Fellows