What Can Double Estrangement Reveal about Speculative Fiction?

Authors

  • Joy Sanchez-Taylor LaGuardia Community College

Keywords:

prefatory

Abstract

In my book Diverse Futures: Science Fiction and Authors of Color, I use the phrase “double estrangement” to describe science fiction texts that add a layer of racial self-consciousness to the estrangement of science fictional settings. This term juxtaposes the ideas of cognitive estrangement expressed by science fiction critic Darko Suvin with W.E.B. DuBois’s writings on racial double consciousness. At the time I was writing Diverse Futures, I was unaware that science fiction scholar Ian Campbell had also decided on this term for his 2018 book Arabic Science Fiction to describe Arabic science fiction’s use of estrangement as subtle political critique under dangerous social situations and also to address the ways that Arabic science fiction authors estrange references to Western technologies. And it turns out that the term “double estrangement” has been used in fantasy studies to discuss the ways that immersive fantasy worlds often shield readers from any implication that the created fantasy world is not real (Mendlesohn 59). While these definitions of “double estrangement” are inherently different and were created for different purposes, I want to take a minute to think through what double estrangement can add to the study of speculative fiction.

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Published

2023-07-02

Issue

Section

Prefatory