The Monstrous Fantastic Conference Paper Abstracts - International ...

67. (SF) Imperial and Postcolonial Imaginings in Science Fiction OakChair: Catherine SiemannCooper UnionThe Windigo in SF Contact NarrativeGrace L. DillonPortland State UniversityFrom Stephen King’s novel Pet Sematary (1984) to Eden Robinson’s “Dogs in Winter” (1999); from Antonia Bird’s film Ravenous (1999) to GrantHarvey’s Ginger Snaps Back: The Beginning (2004) and Larry Fessenden’s The Last Winter (2006), Windigo has become a familiar horror trope inboth literature and cinema. However, little has been written about its presence in sf, where combined interests in (post)colonial theory andpost-apocalyptic settings are incorporating Windigo as a metaphor of imperialism and conquest. Stephen Graham Jones’ The Fast Red Road: APlainsong (2000) and All the Beautiful Sinners (2003), Margaret Atwood’s Oryx and Crake (2005), Joss Whedon’s Firefly (2002), and other sfofferings use Windigo allegorically to examine the sociopolitical tensions of contact between Euro-western imperialism and Indigenous culture.A metaphor of “colonialism as cannibalism,” the Windigo trope can alternatively represent Euro-Western consumption of Indigenous peoples,lands, and resources or judgment and justice, or revenge, upon colonizers for their greed and brutality. Characters suffering possession by theWindigo might represent either the colonizer or the colonized, as both the role of imperialist conqueror and of victim reflect states of excessand imbalance. This metaphor is consistent with the Algonquian identification of the Windigo as the personification of excess, greed, andgluttony (Johnston, Ojibway Heritage 66).The Technology of Consent: American Technomilitary Fantasies in the 1980sChad AndrewsTrent UniversityIn the 1980s a group of American science fiction authors became enormously influential in the political sphere. Acting as leading members ofthe Citizens’ Advisory Council on National Space Policy, these authors (Jerry Pournelle, Larry Niven, Poul Anderson, Greg Bear, Gregory Benford,Dean Ing, Steven Barnes, and Jim Baen) conceptualized the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) for Ronald Reagan, advised his administration onforeign policy matters, and promoted the militarization of space as a means to end Cold War détente. While this paper recognizes their directand active engagement with the politics of the time, its primary focus is instead on the fiction--broadly termed ‘military science fiction’--theyproduced during the decade. I argue that a number of widely read texts written by the Advisory Council authors contributed to a kind ofconsensus culture during the 1980s, a hegemonic discourse that in turn founded itself on a particular conception of technology. The centraltenet of these texts (and of the general discursive trajectory they participated in) is that technology is subservient to other spheres of humaninterest and involvement--that we in other words have a firm grasp on technology. Like any tool, it serves us when necessary, and is ultimatelyguided by the traditions and values established in the cultural and political spheres.Science Fiction and PostcolonialismDavid M. HigginsIndiana UniversityPostcolonial literatures are often understood to be fictions written by authors from locations around the world that once suffered colonialoccupation by Western powers; such literatures respond in various ways to the complex dynamics of continuing imperial legacies in theaftermath of decolonization. In this regard, science fiction would not often be viewed as a postcolonial genre in the most traditional sense;aside from a few collections such as Nalo Hopkinson’s So Long Been Dreaming: Postcolonial Science Fiction & Fantasy (2004) – which gatherstogether a diverse group of authors who write short stories with postcolonial concerns – few science fictions showcase the firsthand voices ofauthors who Gayatri Spivak would refer to as “subaltern” subjects whose perspectives have historically been neglected and devalued inmainstream Western culture. Science fiction as a whole, however, offers insightful critical perspectives regarding colonialism and imperialismduring the postcolonial moment. This presentation traces critical intersections between science fiction and postcolonial thought, and it arguesthat there are multiple ways to articulate the relationships between SF and postcolonial thinking.68. (CYA) How the Reader Uses the Monster MapleChair: Amanda FirestoneUniversity of South FloridaFeral, Growling, Hungry: Young Readers and the Sensuous World of MonstersDawn RouseMcGill UniversityA fascination with monsters often begins in early childhood: Young readers return to favorite texts repeatedly, and grow savage skins in theirplay-- growling, stomping and snarling. As beasts, children can fully explore the world through sensual experiences. While psychologists havetraditionally read this play as an exploration of power and powerlessness in childhood, we investigate how 'being monsters' allows children tosafely embody the bestial. And, because one continues to feel freakish as they transform in young adulthood, we extend the conversation toconsider how adolescent readers may experience the monstrous through the literature produced for them. In this paper, we draw on Merleau-Ponty’s conception of phenomenology, theories of Embodied Education and the criticism of young people’s literature and culture to ‘cage’ theconversation. Additionally, we examine how young readers explore and conceptualize monsters through their real world experience of story