“Literary texts are not, of course, merely passive conduits. They actively shape what the technologies mean and what the scientific theories signify in cultural contexts […] culture circulates through science no less than science circulates through culture.” (Hayles How We Became Posthuman 21) We can expand this view beyond science and technology. All aspects of human cultures circulate in artistic productions, most notably in prose fiction, and in return, fiction has the potential to influence cultures and to inspire innovations. The human-driven events that crowded the end of the twentieth century and the beginning of the twenty-first, and still overwhelm some of us today, resonate with science fiction authors who question technological innovations rather than just run with them, but also political changes, environmental challenges, and human-nonhuman reconfigurations; authors who imagine our resilience or complaisance when confronted to our bias, our fears and aspirations, and project a world in which humans are but one presence in a vast ecosystem. 

The history of science fictional representations parallels human conflicts and power struggles, and science fiction’s ethos is to question them: Who gets to expand their territory? Who has access to new technology? How do fascist regimes rise and fall? Do utopias still function as resistance? How do we rethink Humanism to make place for other humans and the nonhuman world, rivers, and animals? 

In this session, we invite papers about oppression and resistance, power struggles and conflict resolutions in science fiction texts, films and comics, especially from regions and cultures beyond the American continent to create a cross-cultural dialogue about our possible futures. 

In short: How do authors from different world cultures address issues of class struggles, power, and conflict?