Power, Labor, and Hierarchies: Deconstructing Work in Speculative Fiction

Authors

Joseph Kevin Sebastian, University of Nevada, Las VegasFollow

Document Type

Presentation

Publication Date

11-7-2024

Publication Title

PAMLA 2024 Annual Conference

Publisher

Pacific Ancient and Modern Language Association

Publisher Location

Palm Springs, CA

First page number:

1

Last page number:

5

Abstract

In discussions of literary and speculative fiction, a persistent divide emerges regarding the modes and aims of each genre. Literary fiction generally aims to reflect the human condition in familiar, “realistic” terms, exploring characters, relationships, and narratives within existing social structures. In contrast, speculative fiction is characterized by what Darko Suvin identifies as the “the strange newness” of the novum: a radically new element or phenomenon that reshapes the fictional world. This paper argues that the novum in science fiction provides a unique framework for interrogating the relationships between labor, knowledge, and power, revealing how these constructs are contingent upon specific social and economic structures. By examining the strategic use of knowledge in Asimov’s Foundation, the racialized labor hierarchy aboard Rivers Solomon’s An Unkindness of Ghosts, and the hierarchy of knowledge in Sofia Samatar’s The Practice, the Horizon, and the Chain, this study demonstrates how speculative fiction deconstructs the assumed neutrality of labor and knowledge, exposing them instead as commodified, racialized, and deeply hierarchical forces. Through these fictional worlds, the novum allows us to confront the ways in which labor and knowledge are wielded as tools of control, raising critical questions about access, equity, and the very construction of “worthwhile” work in our own society.

Keywords

science fiction; labor; speculative fiction; labor theory; Marxism

Disciplines

Fiction | Library and Information Science

File Format

pdf

File Size

135 KB

Language

English

Rights

IN COPYRIGHT. For more information about this rights statement, please visit http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Repository Citation

Sebastian, J. (2024). Power, Labor, and Hierarchies: Deconstructing Work in Speculative Fiction. PAMLA 2024 Annual Conference 1-5. Palm Springs, CA: Pacific Ancient and Modern Language Association.
https://oasis.library.unlv.edu/lib_articles/770