MRP Adventures: Postcolonial Steampunk

I just thought I would share a paragraph I wrote about why I chose postcolonialism as my theoretical framework with which to tackle steampunk:

Steampunk and postcolonialism can be used together very neatly to challenge dominant ideology and representation trends, no matter what media. The combination may seem incongruous: steampunk at first blush glorifies just about anything postcolonialism critiques. Moreover, postcolonialism is an ambiguous term that cannot be used to describe any single aspect of any decolonization process that have happened or is happening, making the idea of postcolonial steampunk messier than either term on its own. However, postcolonialism implies a temporal aftermath of colonizers leaving the shores of the colonized, which does not reflect many of the various contexts of once-colonized countries, as late capitalism enables a form of neo-colonial domination. In using postcolonialism to identify colonial narratives, it is possible to conflate whole swathes of histories into a single process, a linear history of colonialism, decolonization, and post-colonization when attempting to historicize global narratives of international relations. Yet, the term itself points to a history of colonialism, and in application to steampunk, forces the reader to acknowledge that is steampunk evokes the past, then it will also evoke a colonial past, and a responsible writer will explore how inequalities were imposed on colonized peoples.

Postcolonialism as a field in its many forms matches steampunk’s predilection of looking backwards; where steampunk does so to mine for inspiration, postcolonialism does so to understand the historical specificities of different cultural and national contexts—so steampunk informed by postcolonialism offers a cultural product that lends understanding to a genre-reading audience. Both explore the notion of hybridity; postcolonialism in cultural terms, steampunk in temporal ways, allowing a writer of colour to dabble in anachronism and think through hyphenated and multi-heritage identities, which is incredibly useful given migration flows, issues of assimilation and segregation, and the impact of technology on the former two. This also allows us to think through the process of colonization and methods of empowerment. Not only that, but the resistance to fixed conventions in steampunk literature refuse a homogeneity that people of colour writing from a postcolonial framework can use to trouble imperialistic efforts to enforce a single ideal, no matter what manifestation. 

I kinda wish I thought of this before actually writing the entire damn paper because it might have given me some much-needed direction, but apparently I needed about 21 single-spaced pages or 13,000 words before this idea occurred to me. But that's kinda how on-going work happens, you know? Heed my words, MA students: you might as well get started as soon as possible so you can get to these nuggets of awesome sooner.

So who wants to see my whole MRP on this blog?! :P

Technofantasy, Military, Westerfeld's Leviathan, Lowachee's Gaslight Dogs

A’ight, so, I’m starting revisions on my MRP, and while writing my analysis on Gaslight Dogs, I was struck by how relevant Heideggar’s logic on technology is (which I read in Steve Garlic’s “What Is A Man?” available on JSTOR). The idea is this: technology is a manifestation of our relationship to nature. How we view nature, how we treat it... we will build and make shit to reflect this. His thesis runs like this: in Europe before the 18^th century, we largely saw our relationship to nature as one where we adapted to nature, because nature is its own entity, which we’re a part of. There came a shift in how we viewed nature: rather than seeing it as it is, something to adapt to, we started seeing it as a resource, and considering ways to make it adapt to us. This was right before the Industrial Revolution. So modern technology, what we think of as technology, is a reflection of a philosophy in which we see nature as something to be conquered, something to be overcome, something to use. If we don’t like something? We blast it to hell and build what we want on it.

Let me tell you how I came to thinking really seriously about this: Gaslight Dogs. Among the many comments my fabulous supervisor made on my first draft is her comment on something I said: that Sjenn and Keeley are the true steampunks of the GLD world, because they reject modernity.... yet the modernity they reject is a modernity we are familiar with, a modernity which is informed by warfare, technology, and more importantly, how we view the use of technology. Sjenn’s relationship to nature is thus: she’s in it. She’s a part of it. She doesn’t really see herself as separate from nature, just in a different form of it.

Open Thread: The Intentions of Alternate History

So I'm still doing some reading on how to discuss stuff, and I've actually already been asked by my supervisor to speak more on nostalgia in steampunk (which I think Cory Gross has covered in a Steampunk Magazine issue), but I found an article which I thought I thought I would open up to discussion for all you Silver Goggles readers, particularly those who are invested in author-intention and reader-response types of critical analysis.

Article: Rosenfeld, Gavriel. "Why Do We Ask 'What If?' Reflections no the Function of Alternate History." History and Theory. Issue 41 (Dec 2002). 90 -103.

Alternate history is inherently presentist. It explores the past less for its own sake than to utilize it instrumentally to comment upon the present. ... alternate history necessarily reflects its authors' hopes and fears ... Fantasy scenarios envision the past as superior to the present and thereby express a sense of dissatisfaction with the way things are today. Nightmare scenarios, by contrast, depict the past as inferior to the present and thereby express a sense of contentment with the status quo. [They also] have different political implications. Fantasy scenarios tend to be liberal, for by envisioning a better past, they see the present as wanting and thus implicitly support changing it. Nightmare scenarios, by contrast, tend to be conservative, for by viewing the past in negative terms, they ratify the present and thereby reject the need for change. These implications to be sure, are not iron-clad. Nightmare scenarios can be used for the liberal purpose of critique, while fantasy scenarios can tend towards a conservative form of escapism.

Besides the fact that these are obvious oversimplifications, please discuss.

Transcript: “Scarcely English, but British, of Course, by Descent”: Eurocentrism and Orientalism in SM Stirling’s Peshawar Lancers

I presented this over at SPWF recently for the academic track. Here's the transcript I was reading off, in all its unpolished glory. It needs more tweaking (thanks, Martha, for your helpful comments to give more background on the novel at the beginning!) but I think I hit my major spots with this one for now.

MRP Adventures: The Project of Steampunk

I'm drafting my proposal for the fourth time, and my supervisor has asked me an interesting question: "what is the project of steampunk conceptually/intellectually/philosophically?"

I'm extremely leery of questions like this, because I've gotten into so many arguments about this very question, which is, basically, "what is the point of steampunk?" It is up there and related to questions like: What is the one true way of doing steampunk? What is the best definition of steampunk? And historically, people like me, racialized, marginalized and commodified, have never gotten the chance to define these answers, and we know the danger of assigning a singular answer. Single answers and single definitions are the stuff of exclusion.  I don't want to be the person who explains what steampunks do, because steampunks don't do anything specific -- steampunk is performative in so many ways: What is Jeni Hellum trying to do with Multiculturalism for Steampunk? She's trying to have fun and expand the playing ground. What is Ay-Leen trying to with Beyond Victoriana? She's trying to engage with histories of colonization and expand the modes of engagement. Two similar performances, for very different projects. It doesn't make one better than the other, because both are valid approaches, and both are valid ways of thinking about steampunk.

I can, however, tell you what can be accomplished with the steampunk aesthetic. I can tell you what elements are found in steampunk that can be added or dropped at will. I can deconstruct steampunk. But I could never tell you what the main point of steampunk is. It's like asking me, "what's the point of a frou-frou skirt?" I could tell you the history of the frou-frou skirt, explain to you what it looks like. I could even explain what an outfit aims to accomplish with the addition of a frou-frou skirt. But a frou-frou skirt on its own? 

But Jha! I hear you cry, are you equating the steampunk aesthetic, with all its complexities and connotations and manifestations, with a frou-frou skirt, a decorative article of clothing? Yes, yes, I am. Can't a frou-frou skirt be utilized to make a point? To queer a suit, to announce a mood, to showcase a style? Can't a frou-frou skirt be part of such projects? Yes. And the same with steampunk. We just happen to be able to say more about steampunk, because its history and trends and relation to reality and, most importantly, usage all point to states and ideals and assumptions and mores of society. This is important work! But I refuse to assign a project to steampunk. It's a murky-assed aesthetic, not a life-defining philosophy.

Which means I have to figure out a way (through all this already) to talk about what MY project with steampunk is, which is to expand the subgenre and challenge imperialist narratives in literature using the steampunk aesthetic.

ETA: I decided I had to re-write my introduction explaining what steampunk is, because since starting the proposal I've had conversations that points me to more accurate origins for steampunk than what I keep saying (oh but departure from my script is so hard!). 

MRP Adventures: Quick Notes

Over winter I'll be working on my proposal, so there'll be some things that need to be done, namely, acquainting myself even more with postcolonial theory. 

Step 1: Identify postcolonial approaches on / readings of fiction.

Step 2: Attempt reading of primary texts using postcolonial approaches.

Step 3: Apply postcolonial approach to a new primary text, i.e., explore through some creative writing how a postcolonial approach might look like with the steampunk aesthetic. 

I'm guessing I'll try to identify different schools of postcolonialism, and dedicated one chapter and particular readings to each, and then execute the approach I used at the end of the chapter. So it'll be an evolving story, of sorts. I haven't decided yet what the story will be, and likely, I won't know until I actually start the writing. But it'll probably follow my usual MO of exploring a particular setting and certain characters. 

I'm really excited about this, especially since I have clearance from my supervisor, head of the program and head of the department for this. I still don't have a second reader, but I can worry about that later. 

*flails with happy*

MRP Adventures: Usable Primary Works

I'm not one to re-invent the wheel, so when Ay-Leen asked me in the last post (the srs one, not the squee one) about how I would define steampunk literature, I immediately thought to Mike Perschon's well-defined-oft-redefined definition of steampunk: an aesthetic that evokes neo-Victoriana, technofantasy and retrofuturism. I'm not that much of a masochist that I'd try to create my own definition, and I tend to agree with Mike on this definition. It is, thus far, one of the most useful definitions out there that allows for applicability to a great variety of works without being draconian, but is still pretty easily sighted. 

But this is a project that focuses on race and representation in steampunk literature, as well as the potentiality of postcoloniality, which means that although I've read some nifty-ass books that use the steampunk aesthetic (Court of the Air being a wonderful example), I need to narrow down the literature. 

Firstly, of course, the books I'd use would have the steampunk aesthetic. This isn't a big deal. Mike Perschon has done most of the legwork in maintaining a list of primary works that are canonically considered steampunk, so I'll be ripping off his list shamelessly. 

Secondly, the books would have a strong sense of alternate history attached to it as well. Postcoloniality is a state of departure from a particular official narrative; the books I'm looking at should also attempt to depart from history as we know it.

Thirdly, the books would ideally, in order of importance: A) take place in a non-Western European / Western European-derived / white setting for some significant length in the story, AND/OR B) have significant non-Western European / Western European-derived / white cast members with speaking lines, AND/OR C) depict interaction between white characters (if any) and non-white characters in some significant length in the story, AND/OR D) address issues of colonialism / imperialism. (Henceforth, using this system: A [], B [], C [], D [])

Fourthly, they'll have been published within the last ten years, i.e. starting from 2000. This is to narrow down my problems in hunting down books. I'd love to do a literature review of all books that fulfill the above requirements, but I only get 40 - 50 pages for my MRP, so that'll just have to remain a blog project. I'm not averse to books that'll be published within the next 7 months. 

Thus far, the list looks like this:

Peshawar Lancers, by S.M. Stirling -- A [Y], B [Y, by all reports], C [dependent on B so, Y], D [?]

Mainspring, by Jay Lake (sigh) -- A [Y], B [Y], C  [Y], D [N]

Windup Girl, by Paolo Bacigalupi (sigh) -- A [Y], B [Y], C [Y], D [Y]

Tentatively, these are the books I would like to add but am not quite sure yet:

Clockwork Century novels, by Cherie Priest:

Boneshaker -- A [North America as constructed by colonizers], B [N], C [Y], D [N]

Dreadnought -- A [North America as constructed by colonizers], B [Y], C [Y], D [~Y]

Gaslight Dogs, by Karin Lowachee -- A [secondary North America that is beginning to be colonized], B [Y], C [Y], D [Y]

Behemoth, by Scott Westerfeld -- A [half-half], B [Y], C [Y], D [Perhaps]

Books that have potential but since I know too little about them for now, I can't file them yet:

Crystal Rain, by Tobias Buckell (I have to say though, that cover is SPIFFY)

Mortal Engines, by Philip Reeve

I'm kinda annoyed that the books under Tentative are the books that I would file in the Doin' Shit Right folder.

I am not averse to using short stories as primary texts, either:

Pimp My Airship, by Maurice Broaddus -- A [Y], B [Y], C [?], D [?] (Will be filled soon; I need to re-read it)

The Effluent Engine by NK Jemisin -- A [New Orleans, with alt-history Haiti], B [Y], C [Y], D [Y]

The Last Rickshaw by Stephanie Lai -- A [Y], B [Y], C [Y], D [N]

Brilliant, by Georgina Bruce -- A [Y], B [Y], C [Y], D [N]

These short stories, however, are significant because they don't only include POC perspectives, the way Windup Girl and Gaslight Dogs do, but actual center non-white characters as the focal characters. Because they center these characters and have few or no white characters, the discussion of imperialism is less important. I do want to have a section specifically about this sort of fiction as examples of how a postcolonial approach benefits writers using the aesthetic to FAIL LESS. I do think postcolonial steampunk can deliver very sound critiques of imperialism, but I think, honestly, in the end, the point is to imagine a world where we don't have to critique imperialism. I mean, I like kicking sand into the eyes of white colonizers trying to take over the sandbox, but ya'll, sometimes I want to be left alone to build sandcastles without colonizers knockin' 'em over, y'know?

MRP Adventures: And the question is...

What can postcolonial criticism do for literary steampunk?

I've been working on narrowing down exactly what I want to do for my MRP. Coming off Tor.com's Steampunk Fortnight and seeing these wonderful posts by Nisi, Amal, and Ay-Leen (and seeing them being cited in relevant places), and reading further commentary from Jeff Vandermeer (who, bless him, has been working really hard to showcase what I think really is the best of steampunk thus far), I really do think applying a postcolonialist approach to what's currently out under the steampunk banner in the form of literary criticism is totally in order to tease out the difference between progressive, interrogative narratives that really reflect the anxieties and aspirations of our time and old-skool skiffy.

So, really, basically, what I've been doing on this blog, but I want to map out antecedents and theorists that people can hark to when approaching literary steampunk with a critical eye. And what the results might be. 

This of course means I really need to up the ante in my reading and gather a list of primary works that would serve this purpose. 

I have a wonderful book called Unthinking Eurocentrism which I bought for a class ("Feminist and Orientalism") that we ended up not using, and it's a fascinating read (thanks Dr. Heffernan!). I think I quote it extensively in my section of "Colonial Chic or Stylish Subversion?" that Ay-Leen and I co-authored for Shira Tarrant. There's a great section called "From Eurocentrism to Polycentrism" (and after that it goes on to dissect cinema narratives) which really informs a lot of my thinking. I'm also reading up on more postcolonial theory (ya'd think I'd've learned more of it while in undergrad) with regards to literary criticism.

What I want to know is, would postcolonial theory find steampunk lacking? Would postcolonial theory rip it apart? In a bad way, even? I'm working from the assumption that it wouldn't, that instead, postcolonial theory can tease out sites of resistance in steampunk from which it can grow as a subgenre, adding on layers to the aesthetic. But how would it do this? What's in the steampunk postcolonialist's toolbelt, so to speak?

Merf. My goggles, they need polishing. 

MRP Adventures: Semantics

While considering how best to go about my MRP, I wondered what it meant, really, to write postcolonial steampunk. My reading of science fiction and postcolonial writings in general is woefully insubstantial, but nonetheless, I still wonder.

Larry Pinaire at Tor.com mused, "What I fail to understand is the relationship between the Steampunk era and science fiction. When I think of science fiction, mankind's future, good or bad, usually comes to mind. I am troubled at the idea of looking back to see forward. Maybe I'm just old."

I responded, "Science fiction is the perfect vehicle for addressing topical issues, current issues, and how they could be addressed in another time/space. Steampunk merely uses the time/space of the past, and the issues of the past still have reverberations today, so why not go right to the root to address them?"

Parliament and Wake had another thought-provoking comment: "An alternate thought experiment (for such are the stuff of science and science fiction) might question whether it was rather the grisly abuses and dark excrescences of the 19th century that 'made the 'progress' of the 20th century possible'. A secondary hypothesis of such an experiment might be: whether clinging blithely to the clockwork optimism of the age of empires condemns the cannier, more cynical subjectivity of our own time to a stillbirth."