Seasteads and Aquapelagos

Introducing Nissology to Speculative-Fiction Studies

Authors

  • Sarah R. MacKinnon

Keywords:

aquapelago, seasteading, utopia, climate change, island studies, speculative fiction

Abstract

Examining fictional seasteading through the lens of the “aquapelago” acts as a bridge between the fields of island studies and speculative-fiction studies. Island studies as an interdisciplinary field of scholarly inquiry has drawn attention to the complex interactions between the maritime, terrestrial, and human aspects of island societies, moving away from “land-biased” research. The “aquapelago” has been devised to better understand islands as assemblages that may wax, wane, and change over time. Examples of seasteading within speculative fiction reveal that such floating settlements are not necessarily aquapelagic societies; some are more representative of ocean-skimming cruise liners. Such fictive examples frequently represent seasteading as floating refuges borne of necessity in a dystopian world affected by environmental or societal catastrophe rather than as planned utopias.

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Published

2020-07-01

Issue

Section

Peer-Reviewed Articles