What Can Double Estrangement Reveal about Speculative Fiction?
Keywords:
prefatoryAbstract
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.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2023 Joy Sanchez-Taylor

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License.
Content in Fafnir is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial 3.0 Unported License (CC BY-NC 3.0).
Beginning in November 2019, authors retain full copyright without restrictions. By publishing with Fafnir, authors grant a non-exclusive license to Fafnir to distribute the publisher’s version of the work, and give Fafnir permission to grant reprint and/or translation requests in accordance with our open-access policy and our Creative Commons license.
Prior to November 2019, copyright for all published material is held by Fafnir, but authors have full permission to use their work as they wish (i.e., self-archiving, reprint requests, using for other projects, etc.).
In both cases, re-use or re-posting of material published in Fafnir must acknowledge original publication and include a link to the publisher version.