Finished paper

Introduction Science fiction is a very interesting and unique genre. Contained within it are many diverse and complicated elements that do more than just tell a great story, much more in fact. Science Fiction (SF) attempts to predict the future by examining the past and present. Much of this prediction is based on imperialism, as well as post-colonialism, and is now trending toward globalization. This shift in ideas creates a shift in the vision of the ways people exist, focusing on becoming global citizens. In this paper I will discuss the ways in which science fiction is rooted in history, dating all the way back to Copernicus. This is what is described as the “Long History” of the genre, and is important in establishing why science fiction holds the place it does today. I will also discuss how the genre has been affected by post-colonialism and the rise of corporate empires within the past century. This era and event are crucial to understanding why science fiction tells the stories that it does and what they mean for our world. In discussing why SF tells these stories it is necessary to show how the works contained within SF reflect the ways in which our reality is created and formed. This includes discussing what happens during reality formation through social construction. Using all of this a basis, I will show in this paper how current trends in the world are leading up to ideas and realities already contained within the SF genre. Along the way I will examine several SF novels, including the Enders series, in order to show just how exacting SF can be in describing humanity. SF draws from many diverse sources and elucidates problems and issues facing humanity today. Most of all, SF, shows us that change is inevitable and re-education is a must. History Science Fiction as we know it today has quite a history. Its origins can be traced all the way back to the Copernican revolution. In the sixteenth century Nicolaus Copernicus wrote his On the Revolution of the Celestial Orbs (1543). In this work, Copernicus argued that the sun did not revolve around the earth but in fact that it was the opposite. He was not the first to argue this and he was making a fairly bold statement due to the fact that his theory went against the Catholic Church. His work however was the first to be based on scientific observation and recorded in a way that others could test his work. The Church was obviously not pleased with his argument and tried to stop the spread of such heresy in any way they could, which led to much persecution. Copernicus’s idea, however, continued to spread and by the seventeenth century most scholars, regardless of whether or not they believed it, had heard the theory (Roberts). The church did not stop persecuting those who believed or supported this theory and thus we have people like Galileo Galilei and Johannes Kepler. Galileo published his scientific work in 1632, was condemned by the inquisition and forced to recant. Kepler, as a protestant, avoided the direct fury of the Catholic Church but was harassed in other ways as he continued to refine Copernicus’s model. What Copernicus and his revolution did was unprecedented; they went against the church’s authority and eventually came out on top. In the words of Adam Roberts “The Copernican revolution is bound up with the ways in which science supplanted religion and myth in the imaginative economy of European thought; and SF emerges from, and is shaped by, precisely that struggle” (Roberts) The victory of this revolution can be seen in several forms including the writing from that century, especially in the writing of John Donne in his work Ignatius his Conclave. In this work, Donne, mocks the pope for continuing to persecute the new science. He places Copernicus in hell because “the Papists have extended the name, and the punishment of Heresie, almost to every thing” (Donne Quoted in Roberts). By the end of this satire Copernicus goes free and all the Jesuits are sent to colonize the moon. Thus we have early examples of SF, springing form the origin of the scientific revolution. Critics do not like to place the beginnings of science fiction with Copernicus. They argue that SF is a counterfactual literature embodying a temporal imagination or that voyage into space is the defining feature of the genre (Suvin 1979: 89). Making SF an embodiment of temporal imagination is not to say that it must happen in the future but that SF represents things “not as they are, but actually as they might be, whether in the future, in an alternative past or present, or in a parallel dimension” (Roberts). Critics such as Paul Alkon insist that the “impossibility of writing about the future was widely taken for granted until the eighteenth century” (Alkon). Roberts argues however, that the Copernican Revolution not only opened the universe up for science and literature but for time as well. “By opening up cosmological spatial scales, Copernican beliefs also challenged the chronological assumptions of European Culture.” (Roberts 9) . From here we jump all the way to the latter half of the nineteenth century to the works of Jules Verne, H. G. Wells, and the Industrial Revolution. Rapid industrial growth as well as the spread of technology led to “a new and radical idea began to hold: that the future could be very different from the past. From this basic notion emerged…Futuristic Fiction” (Evans 14). This literature included such works as Richard Jefferies’s After London (1885), a novel set in post-holocaust London where the citizens have reverted to barbarism. The defining feature that “futuristic fiction sought to portray- either positively or negatively- [was] humanity’s social “progress” in years to come” (Evans 14). From this backdrop developed two strains of science fiction that are still in use today. Both seek to look into the future but go about it in differing ways and with different emphasis on science. First is the hard/ didactic strain of SF developed in the writings of Jules Verne. Here the science is the subject of the story. In fact, many of his works were written to be educational, using the fantastical nature of story to impart scientific learning to the reader through the medium of the story. Examples of this can be seen in the use of geology and paleontology in Journey to the Center of the Earth and through the use of oceanography and marine biology in Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. Verne’s publisher, Pierre-Jules Hetzel, is quoted about the nature of Verne’s work in saying that “The goal of this series is, in fact, to outline all the geographical, geological, physical, and astronomical knowledge amassed by modern science and to recount, in an entertaining and picturesque format,….the history of the universe” (Evans 1988: 3). The second prominent strain of SF developed around this period comes from the work of H. G. Wells. This sect of the SF genre uses science as a means for plot progression but is not the subject, “science in the narrative process itself shifts from primary position to secondary, from subject to context” (Evans 1988b: 1). Wells used many of the topoi and tropes already contained within the genre and brought them new life with his stories. The majority of these stories looked at the impact of scientific discovery on humanity. “So soon as the hypothesis is launched, the whole interest becomes the interest of looking at human feelings and human ways, from the new angle that has been acquired” (Wells quoted in Evans). Examples of this can be seen in Wells use of the time-travel novel in The Time Machine (1895) and the mad-scientist topoi is represented in two novels The Island of Doctor Moreau (1896) and The Invisible Man (1897). Both strains of the genre, didactic and narrative, exemplified in these two authors have had a huge impact on the SF genre over the past century. Contained within these diverse works is a similarity and idea that is persistent in the genre and rather important to my argument. That is, that science fiction attempts to look into the future by examining the past and present. Science Fiction and the Future Science Fiction holds a unique place in modern literature, developing as an outlet of the people’s imagination of the future. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries with the industrial revolution and the enlightenment people were curious and intrigued by all the new uses of technology and science. The writers of the era expressed these curiosities and concerns in their work by imaging what would come of these new ideas and technologies. From Mary Shelley to Phillip Dick writers were exploring the consequences of human achievement. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818) certainly had an impact on what science fiction is today by making famous the topoi of the mad-scientist. Her work however, does not conform to either the didactic or narrative formulae present in this period. Instead her work brings up the question of what it means to be human. From the exploration of the consequences of human achievement arose the popular notion that SF tells us what the future could be. Not necessarily what the future will be but just a sample of what it could be like. As all good writers do, SF writers have always used what they knew about their world in order to construct the imagined world of the future. By imagining the future of humanity, SF writers, imagine how current conflicts or issues will develop and/or be resolved. If those issues happen to be with differing groups (whether human or not) then SF is trying to predict cultural interaction. Therefore SF is subject to being affected by many things such as geography, technology, history, and power relations to name but a few. Imperialism Because SF is based on what authors see in their day much the work coming out the genre in recent years has stemmed from the post-colonial era. To understand this time, and the literature that has come out of it, it is important to look at the breaking up of the colonial nations into new nation states and to examine the effect that has on culture. Imperialism, in this case is defined by control of a people, region, or nation by a force outside of that people, region or nation, will provide a useful starting point to understand the influences on SF today. After WWII, the division of colonial lands into new nation states had a great impact on what Science Fiction is today. During this period three key events occurred: the world market was reorganized along hierarchical lines branching out from the United States, there was a decentralization and diffusion of production among the new nations, and the construction of international relations that spread a “disciplinary productive regime and with it a disciplinary society” (Hardt and Negri). The spread of a “disciplinary productive regime” and therefore “disciplinary society” means that with the decentralization of production among the former colonies there were new power relations set in place. Power relations that emphasized the dominance of the corporations, due to the revenue they brought to the new nations. The geographical boundaries began to matter less and less because the world market does not have very much use for them. In securing power, the corporate empire was less dependent on military force and instead depended on the dollar to become the instrument of institutionalization and disciplinization. Countries were more invested in becoming globally recognized which means a push to become economically viable. By having the means for production of a product recognized on a global market, money can flow into a country. For developing nations this revenue stream holds great importance. The corporations that came in after the end of the colonial nation brought that revenue stream. They used the resources already found within the countries to create new modes of production, often changing the traditional structure of the cultures inhabiting those countries. These resources included raw materials as well as mobilizing the people into workforces for the production of goods. What is witnessed in these events is a break from the imperialism of Europe to new structure based on economic viability through production, sometimes called neo-colonialism. Governments and militaries did not enact these changes but instead corporations that transcend national boundaries brought about a new way of living. These corporations brought technology, mobilized work forces, and collected flows of wealth in the post-colonial nations. These Corporations certainly brought jobs and therefore revenue to developing nations but they also brought with them new structures of institutionalization such as new methods of work and payment as well as consumerism and pop culture. By bringing in so many jobs the corporations were very powerful in these countries. In some instances Hardt and Negri observed that the neo-colonial countries governmental structure’s actually developed around the corporations instead of the corporations needing to structure themselves within the pre-existing political climate. As an affect the corporations then became disciplinarians. When a country wants to improve worker conditions they had better not do it at the expense of the corporations or risk losing important revenue. Also, by being based in several countries, transnational corporations have created a new system of power, in the global environment, based on the flow of money. Therefore it is crucial for the countries to keep production high and therefore enrich their economy. These countries no longer produce goods mainly for their own consumption, but instead for sale on the global market. This is the situation from which much Third World science fiction emerges. The indigenous/ native people see the controlling forces and write what they see. New corporations bringing "better" technology accompanied by the promise of a better life leads to examples like those found in Ginway that I will discuss below. Imperialism and the Idea of Utopia Utopia usually refers to an idealized perfection of society. It is an extremely important aspect of the genre of science fiction represented most famously by works like 1984 (George Orwell 1949) and Brave New World (Aldous Huxley 1931). Contained within Utopia there is the idea of harmony and peace among all people and forces. A utopia in this sense is also referred to as a eutopia, or a “positive utopia,” described by Rogan as “a nonexistent society described in considerable detail and normally located in time and space that the author intended a contemporaneous reader to view as considerably better than the society in which that reader lived” (Rogan, 39). Usually the peace and harmony of a eutopia is achieved through the recognition of a uniting force. In Brave New World this uniting force is the government and socially endorsed drug "Soma" which is how all people relax. In many other examples the uniting force is a supra government, a government that transcends conventional geographic borders and cultural boundaries. To do this the government must control or regulate very diverse groups of people or attempt to make a singular group of people. The means to do this is to educate people on why they need the government. Most often in the genre these educational systems are imperfect. People see who is pulling the strings and usually find something wrong with the reason why or the methods used to achieve control. Thus the protagonist (usually) tries to stop the process through which the government (or other dominating force) maintains power (the education and conditioning of people). In other instances however, these supra-governments are not such a bad thing. The most popular example of this is found in the Star Trek series with the "Federation of Planets." The Federation sends missions to remote parts of the universe to discover what is out there and that is all the missions are supposed to do. The missions are supposed to follow "Prime Directive One" which is to not interfere with any species development. The implications of this are vast. This standing order simultaneously prevents the atrocities of imperialism as well as attempts to preserve the natural process by which ecosystems/species/cultures form and evolve. The conflict in the series usually comes from not obeying this order thereby forcing the crew to deal with the consequences according to the context of their situation. There are similarities between the science fiction representations of utopia and the globalized/ globalizing world in which we find ourselves. As stated utopias often have a supra-government that unites the people of many nations, and therefore has some measure of power and means of control. The ideal is that there is very little conflict but this is rarely the case in either human history or works of SF. These things are present in the world today as Hardt and Negri point out in "Empire." First are the controlling forces of the world. The global entity of control, as shown above, is the world market or the empire of the dollar/ capital. All countries are subject to its control by the fact that they can be shut off from it. Therefore no money is coming in and they must try to make do with what they have. This can be hard when all you have is production of goods that are non-essential. Second is the control on a much more individual basis. Hardt and Negri use the ideas of a society of control and biopolitical power, found in Foucault's work to explain this, which also functions as a main tie to education. The society of control is very important because of its functions. First, being a society, it teaches us how to act within the world. Second, the society of control teaches us by regulating what is acceptable and what is not. Unique about the society of control is that it is expressed almost entirely through the social field, in the actions and reactions of the individuals within a society. This makes the controlling systems very fluid and flexible. There is no set "in" and "out." instead these mechanisms are defined by the people in the moment. The ways in which this control is exercised is located most clearly in our communication systems. For example, Facebook allows anyone to post almost any thought that they like. But what stops people from posting comments in support of genocide? Well there are two things that normally stop people. First is Facebook itself. Being a single organization that has a lot of control over how people communicate with others because the users and to a certain extent governments have given Facebook that power. The second factor that polices Facebook users’ behavior is society itself. If someone were to post some horrific comment the others who see that comment are able, and usually willing, to instantly respond (positively and negatively) or to shun that person. Therefore the control and discipline of people is largely left in the hands of individuals. This leads Hardt and Negri to say "The society of control might thus be characterized by an intensification and generalization of the normalizing apparatuses of disciplinarity that internally animate our common and daily practices, but in contrast to discipline, this control extends well outside the structured sites of social institutions through flexible and fluctuating networks" (Hardt and Negri). Thus we see how one of science fiction’s major themes, utopia, addresses aspects of the non-fictional universe. Multi-Cultural SF Science fiction is a meeting zone for cultures to deal with problems. By imaging the future of a people, or all people, the writer is imagining how current conflicts or issues will develop or be resolved. If those issues happen to be with differing cultures or differing groups of any sort then SF is trying to predict cultural interaction. Due to the diverse nature of culture these predictions are affected by many things such as geography, power relations, history, and technology but to name a few. In the following examples, I will explore how different visions of colonialism and imperialism are created in societies and expressed in SF. To discuss science fiction and multicultural interaction is at some level to also discuss imperialism. Science fiction is a very wide genre and a majority of the genre that deals with multicultural and/or multi-species education/ interaction is dealing with imperialism in some form or another. This is the product of SF being a “meeting zone” for cultures because a great deal of cultural interaction (and therefore education) throughout history has been through conflict and/ or domination. Martin-Albo reinforces this when he states “Not all novels about the colonization of Mars envision the existence of biological life on the red planet, but when they do, these creatures, whether intelligent or not, tend to find themselves in a position of otherness similar to the one occupied by Indians in the traditional version of the American West” (Martin-Albo 108). The position that Indians/ indigenous persons find themselves in is one of being ignored, dominated and exploited by non-native Anglo settlers. In this sub-category of the genre many times the plot deals with how the dominating force takes over and exerts its control. First by recognizing itself as a colonizer, the dominating force distances themselves from the colonized. This makes the colonized "the other" and therefore subject to control and domination. This control and domination includes, for purposes of stability and sustained colonization, the re-education of the colonized. This re-education can either be intentional or unintentional. For example, what did Jawas do before becoming familiar with robots and their value? When humans came to Tatooine it forced Jawas to redefine their world by including the new species of Humans and their technology into their world. Redefinition begets re-education because Jawas, not necessarily needed, but saw new opportunities to survive. They (Jawas) educated themselves on robots and their value as well as how to trade with humans. In re-educating themselves on the value of robots, Jawas are turning the tables on the human colonizers, exploiting the technology that the humans brought allows for Jawas to make the best out of a bad situation. Thus, Jawas show us how re-education is the best mechanism for adaptation to changing power structures. Science Fiction in the Third World People are subject to the context (temporally and geographically) in which they are born. Nobody choses it, it is given to them and they make their life around this. What happens if you are born in area that is rich in natural resources? Supposing this, what if a group decides they need these resources and begins to dominate your geography in order to obtain theses resources? Well then you would be just one of millions of people who live in situations similar to this. Many people have had to endure this type of struggle and it has naturally affected the art and the literature that comes out of their regions. In Ginway’s “A Working Model for Analyzing Third World SF” the author argues that because of Brazils location in an increasingly globalized world, the SF that comes out of the country is greatly affected (Ginway). Ginway elaborates by explaining that the SF of Brazil does not domesticate the technology of the larger world. It does not make technology its own. Instead it views technology suspiciously as something “developed at the expense of Brazilian identity” (Ginway). Early on, Brazilian SF represented the indigenous people as peace loving and more powerful than the technology of the first world. An example can be found in Guido Wilmar Sassi’s 1963 work “Mission T-935” which demonstrates how Brazilian culture proves to be more powerful than technological know-how (Ginway). In Sassi's story, a humanoid descendant from Atlantis arrives from another planet to begin preparing Earth for resettlement by Atlantean colonizers. Arriving in Rio de Janeiro during carnaval, he is "seduced" by Brazilian culture and the pleasures of the flesh through the efforts of a hustler and his female friends. When the culturally naive Atlantean hands over all his money to spend a night with a beautiful woman, we see that he has fallen victim to the sensuality and exuberance of Brazilian culture (Ginway 469). As time progressed these feelings of diminishing identity became broader. It was no longer about the direct effects of technologically superior nations on Brazilians but instead the countries increasingly marginalized position in a globalizing world. Braulio Tavares’s work The Ishtarians Are Among Us (1989) is a great example of this by paralleling the struggle of Brazil against stronger economies and expansive cultures of developed nations. This story is interesting in that it is a metafictional story about writing SF in the context of the Third World. In the story the author/ protagonist’s sugar bowl is being invaded by ants, so he places the bowl in the freezer. Later, he takes joy in in washing most of the frozen ants down the drain, with the strongest ants “doomed to drown in his coffee as he adds sugar” (Ginway 481). Coffee and sugar are important here because these commodities have given Brazil a certain amount of economic power during its history. However, they are also partially responsible for Brazil’s economy being highly dependent on world markets (Ginway 481). Being part of the world markets means that Brazil is exposed to modernization. “Tavares believes that modernization has come to Brazil at a high price: the devastation of its cultural traditions” (Ginway 482). Ginway is unclear in what ways the cultural traditions of Brazil have been devastated. However, from the context of her work I believe that the devastation occurs as Brazil is forced into integrating institutions of more developed cultures into their own because of their production of sugar and coffee, commodities sold on the world market. Thus we see how cultural sentiments can be addressed through the science fiction genre. By publishing these works Brazilians and people from countries in similar situations are expressing their feelings and attitudes towards the situations in which they have been placed. They are venting about how things have changed and how they will change in the times to come. When culture changes, redefinition and re-education are more than necessary, they are impossible to stop. This is the intersection of culture and education. The reproduction of culture is dependent on the educational systems contained within that culture, thus when culture shifts so too does education. In the case of Brazil the change is being able to recognize that they are unable to keep up with the more developed countries simply because of their location in space and time but at the same time they are unable to remain independent of the globalizing world. Brazilians may not have much influence in such a connected world but they are also powerless to stop themselves from being influenced. This creates a conflict of identity. Wetmore quotes Edward Said about how this identity conflict manifests itself when he says “Stories are at heart what explorers and novelists say about strange regions of the world; they also become the method colonized people use to assert their own identity and the existence of their own history” (Said in Wetmore). Manifested through story, the colonized (or post-colonized for my purposes) shape an identity around their devalued position in the world. Questions such as “Who are we in this world?” “What do we have to contribute?” Or “What are we losing by having to deal with everybody else in order to get by?” arise during the re-creation of identity for the post-colonized. To establish identity, which will be discussed below in reference to Berger and Luckmann, there must be an established place for the identity to exist. Where do we belong socio-culturally in this world? This involves learning the power structures of the world; determining whom you influence and who has influence over you, learning to work within the systems that have been set in the world. What indigenous people are working for is of little matter for the point I am attempting to make. That point is that the education of the people of Brazil, or countries in similar situations, will be highly inundated with feelings of being less powerful, or even put upon, by the expansive cultures of the developed world. This education can come in so many different and varying forms that it is hard to even limit it to the term “education”. It is more of a living conditioning or a saturation of messages of inferiority. Formal education through schools reinforces that science and capitalism and the western way are the best. Then outside of the education systems, the expansive pop-culture and advertising of the developed world push people into believing that they have need or want of the technologies, ideas, and services of the developed world. Social Construction As I have made mention of above, re-education is a necessity and seems to be a part of capitalist imperial expansion. Again, I want to emphasize that it is less of a re-education and more of a continual living conditioning. Due to the power exercised by these transnational corporations people are forced to redefine their world. Redefinition of a world, obviously, constitutes the redefinition of a great many things including, what is acceptable behavior and what is considered taboo, appropriate work, appropriate dress, understanding of (or at least compliance with) structures of power. In order to reach redefinition however there must be an original definition. A definition of the world as it “was” is necessary in order to define the world as it “is.” Therefore, there must be a world in which we are shaped; a world which precedes our existence that we must be “clued” in on and in which we learn what constitutes a “life.” It is impossible to define what a “life” is simply because it is unique to every person. No person has ever experienced anything in the same manner as anyone else. But we all do create a reality together. We have to have others in order to be assured that there is a shared reality to begin with. This is the subject of Peter Berger and Thomas Luckmann’s work The Social Construction of Reality. Their work exemplifies several ideas of major import to my argument. First, supposing we are not alone, a large part of an individual’s reality is shaped by the people around them. We do not come into this world alone, nor do we ever live in it alone, therefore a major part of this reality is the others we share it with. Second, is the idea that in order for reality to exist for any person it must be taught to them through a variety of mechanisms/ institutions and individuals must keep learning constantly. Simply put, even if one day we wake up on another planet all alone, we must begin to gather information about this new planet and continue this information gathering forever in order to continue living. Third, in order for this reality to be maintained (reproduced in the next generation) habitualization and institutionalization are of critical import. This is simply the explanation for why there are rules and disciplining structures within society. As a group, people define what constitutes acceptable behavior. With the creation of acceptable behavior naturally follows the creation of what is not acceptable behavior. Society seeks to make sure that all people do what is considered acceptable therefore structures of control (institutions) are created in order to maintain and reinforce acceptable social behavior. For example, in Speaker for the Dead (the second in the Enders quartet) the people of the colony planet of Lusitania are separated from the alien species coexisting on the planet with them by means of an energized fence. This fence was set up (by the humans) in order to keep the humans of Lusitania from interfering with the alien society. The fence is just a physical manifestation of what the Lusitanian belief that the two societies should be kept separate in order for everyone to live peacefully. Fourth, institutions are critical. “A institutional reality, then, is experienced as an objective reality. It has a history that antedates the individual’s birth…it was there before he was born and it will be there after his death” (Berger and Luckmann 60) This objectivity is important for two reasons. First, in makes it so that reality is outside of the individual, it is not something that she, herself, can completely control. Second, history gives us a background from which to base decisions about the future. Thus, SF, in attempting to predict the future, is commenting on an objective history embodied both within the individual (through their socialization) and in the reality outside of the individual (in the collective reality created by society). History then constitutes a basis for the reality in which we live and therefore is crucial to identity formation. Societies have their own histories which give them a sense of uniqueness as well as a sense of place within the world. This goes back to my earlier point that many post-colonial nations feel pressure from outside societies in the form of expansive cultures, technologies, and ideas. Furthermore, because of the never ending passage of time, history is constantly being made. It follows then that identities, of all sorts, are constantly being shaped. There is never one set identity because with each new instant in time a new history is created and a new identity and place is formed. Re-Educate You Must Berger and Luckmann’s work is important because it shows us the ways in which the reality we currently live in is shaped which in turn shapes the products of that reality (specifically science fiction). With ever changing identity, comes the perpetual redefinition of the world. Thus, people and societies are constantly re-educating themselves on what it means to be part of a world, responding to and shaping reality. The postcolonial nation then formed a new identity around being a postcolonial nation. Each one individually had define where they fit in what they knew of the world and how it works. In actuality, every group of people has, is, and will continue to constantly redefine and re-learn reality. A prime example of social construction can be found in Orson Scott Card’s Enders Series, specifically Enders Game. In this novel, children are monitored from birth by means of a device implanted in the base of their skulls. Those that prove to be particularly gifted and meet specific qualifications by a certain age are taken from their families and sent to “Battle School” where they are trained to be the leaders of the international military called the “International Fleet.” Battle school is located in a space ship orbiting Earth. This military, of which battle school is an integral part, was formed to be humanity’s defense against alien invaders known as the “buggers.” The protagonist of this story, Andrew Wiggin, Ender for short, happens to be the most gifted child on the planet. Due to over population, couples are only supposed to have two children. Ender, however, is a third child. His parents were asked by the fleet to conceive a third child because his older siblings, Peter and Valentine, while gifted, do not meet the specifics to be included in the Battle School program. At the age of 6 Ender is taken from his family and sent to Battle School. This is the first of many major shifts in Enders reality. He is removed from his family and sent to an entirely new place where he must learn to adapt. Adapt he does. Ender quickly recognizes the forces that control the Battle School. There are certain formal structures of power set in place by the teachers and operators of Battle School such as dividing the students into armies that live, train, eat, learn, and fight together. The fighting is composed of mock battles in a zero-gravity environment, meant to simulate combat in space. There is also informal structures of power that determine what happens in the school. One of these informal structures that Ender quickly recognizes (on his first day in fact) is found in how students compete on arcade like games. Being a “launchie”, or a student who has just arrived at battle school and therefore does not belong to any army, Ender was looked down upon for trying to best one of the older students in 3D simulation style game. He is verbally mocked and shoved aside when he loses, even though it is his first time playing. From this, Ender learns to avoid playing the more popular games in order to prevent criticism from the older students. However, due to Ender’s extreme intelligence he is able to surpass many of the older students in these games fairly quickly. Again, however, Ender is criticized as are his opponents. Here we see institutionalization and socialization in action. At first Ender looked down upon for being the “new kid” who doesn’t know anything. Then when he learns the rules and proceeds to win because of his understanding, he is disciplined for being too good, for being able to surpass students who society says should be better than him. From this criticism Ender learns how Battle School works. His reality is changed and he re-learns (rather quickly) how to move within the pre-existing structures. To put this in a context that actually applies to the non-fictional universe; with the rise of the transnational corporation comes a reshaping of our world. Not only for the post-colonial nations that are shaped by the corporations but also for everybody else. From the third world to the first, a reformation of the world as we individually know it has occurred. The post-colonials are defined by the end of the domination of foreign governments and the rise of the corporations. The post-colonizers are redefined because of the loss of their colonies, and the maintenance of their economic hegemony. The First Worlder’s realities are redefined as recipients of goods (as well as ideas) from across the globe. Individuals redefine their worlds based on how they see, and thereby learn of its functioning. We have experienced a major shift in the ideas of not only how the world works but also what it means to be a part of the workings of the world. A re-education has/ is occurring as we deal with the consequences of this shift. Globalization Our world today is being defined by globalization. Globalization is the acknowledgment of the fact that most groups/ societies are highly connected with most of the other groups/ societies sharing this planet. This has been caused by the increased rate at which we are able to transmit knowledge and information. The obvious example is the internet, which allows anyone to present information that can be accessed by anyone else almost instantaneously. This may seem like a big shift in topic but it is not. Recognition of others as members of our planet is just another re-definition of reality, a shift from a national citizen to a more global citizen identity. We recognize that others share similarities and differences with us which in turn causes us define our world as not solely ours. Therefore, the other groups become a means by which our world is defined, as our world gets smaller, our identities get larger. Globalization holds within it another key element. That is, we as humans are one group. Thus, as individuals contained within separate societies and cultures, we are forming a new identity as a single unit. Our reality then becomes one of a global citizen. We recognize that there are others beyond our own society and therefore our society is changed. This is not to say that up until now people did not recognize that there were other groups of people existing in the world. It is to say that because of our hyper-connectedness to these groups our identities are constantly being shaped and reformed by the knowledge of these groups. This has occurred throughout history but it has never (to our knowledge) occurred as quickly as it does now. Global Citizenship Science Fiction explores the idea of the global citizen in many ways. But it also goes further than that; it helps to create global citizens. In the introduction of World weavers: Globalization, Science Fiction, and the Cybernetic Revolution (2005) Gary Westfahl explores the role science fiction has played in globalization. It is quite a role indeed. Westfahl starts by elaborating on globalization and thus, of course, the idea that advances in communication and transportation technology has created the means for a world in which we are all much more aware of each other. Technology has created the means but not the motive for this communication and awareness. Westfahl states that “our world has grown more and more interconnected due not simply to technological advances but to a shared interest in those advances, and to a shared interest in what those advances might lead to in the future” (Westfahl) The shared interest of where those advances might lead to is a key location for science fiction’s its role in globalization. The works of great SF authors such as Jules Verne were able to draw in readers the world over. The interest of where new technologies would take humanity, acted and is acting as common ground for the formation of an international community (Westfahl, 2). As the genre progressed it took on an “international aura” that “routinely posited the future emergence of a world government and implicitly celebrated the oneness of humanity in sagas that took humans to other worlds where they could observe the Earth from a distance and recognize their commonalities while encountering alien species” (Westfahl, 2). As I have shown, “science fiction has not only served as one engine of globalization, but it has also provided a mirror for human responses to globalization and a means for contemplating its possible future effects; its extravagant dreams have helped to weave the world together and can help us to better understand why the weaving has occurred and how it might affect our lives in the coming millennium” (Westfahl, 3). Globalization has become an important context for the production of SF literature. What does it mean to be a global citizen? At a base level it is recognition of a society composed of many different cultures. When examined closely a pattern emerges. A society is composed of many different individuals collectively creating a reality. Globalization is simply this happening on a much larger scale. Each society/ culture acts as an individual on the global level. This then creates global identities not only for the societies involved but also for each individual in every society. These identities are the definitions of global citizenship. Conclusion It cannot be overstated how complex and diverse the nature of the science fiction genre is. By examining the past and present science fiction makes predictions about the future of our world. From Copernicus to Philip K. Dick’s The Man in the High Castle, SF has told the story of the human condition. Science fiction’s contemporary predictions of the future are based on our recent history: imperialism and post-colonialism, which have been crucial in the development of the SF genre over the past century. Currently, science fiction is examining the effects of globalization on humanity. Due not only to the lightning fast communication of the globalized world, but also to the science fiction genre itself, we are seeing the creation of identities formed around the idea that humans are a single unit. In short, science fiction gives us the means to create global citizenship. Through the use of examples such as the Enders series and works from diverse time periods I have shown how accurately science fiction literature reflects back on the culture that created it. Finally, in order to function in this coming future, as it is necessary to do with any change, re-educate you must.

History of Science Fiction

Science Fiction as we know it today has quite a history. Its origins can be traced all the way back to the Copernican revolution. In the sixteenth century Nicolaus Copernicus wrote his On the Revolution of the Celestial Orbs (1543). In this work, Copernicus argued that the sun did not revolve around the sun but in fact that it was the opposite. Now, he was not the first to argue this and he was making a fairly bold statement due to the fact that his theory went against the Catholic Church. His work however was the first to be based on scientific observation and recorded in a way that others could test his work. The Church was obviously not pleased with his argument and tried to stop the spread of such heresy in any way they could, which led to much persecution. Copernicus’s idea, however, continued to spread and by the seventeenth century most scholars, regardless of whether or not they believed it, had heard the theory (Roberts). The church did not stop persecuting those who believed or supported this theory and thus we have people like Galileo Galilei and Johannes Kepler. Galileo published his scientific work in 1632, was condemned by the inquisition and forced to recant. Kepler, as a protestant, avoided the direct fury of the Catholic Church but was harassed in other ways as he continued to refine Copernicus’s model. What the Copernicus and his revolution did was unprecedented; they went against the church’s authority and came out on top. In the words of Adam Roberts “The Copernican revolution is bound up with the ways in which science supplanted religion and myth in the imaginative economy of European thought; and sf emerges from, and is shaped by, precisely that struggle.” The victory of this revolution can be seen in several forms including the writing from that century. Especially in the writing of John Donne in his work Ignatius his Conclave. In this work, Donne, mocks the pope for continuing to persecute the new science. He places Copernicus in hell because “the Papists have extended the name, and the punishment of Heresie, almost to every thing” (Donne Quoted in Roberts). By the end of this satire Copernicus goes free and all the Jesuits are sent to colonize the moon. Critics do not like to place the beginnings of science fiction with Copernicus. They argue that sf is a counterfactual literature embodying a temporal imagination or that voyage into space is the genres defining feature. Making sf an embodiment of temporal imagination is not to say that it must happen in the future but that sf represents things “not as they are, but actually as they might be, whether in the future, in an alternative past or present, or in a parallel dimension” (Roberts). Critics such as Paul Alkon insist that the “impossibility of writing about the future was widely taken for granted until the eighteenth century” (Alkon). Roberts argues however, that the Copernican Revolution not only opened the universe up for science and literature but for time as well. “By opening up cosmological spatial scales, Copernican beliefs also challenged the chronological assumptions of European Culture.” (Roberts 9) . From here we jump all the way to the latter half of the nineteenth century to the works of Jules Verne, H. G. Wells, and the Industrial Revolution. Rapid industrial growth as well as the spread of technology led to “a new and radical idea began to hold: that the future could be very different from the past. From this basic notion emerged…Futuristic Fiction” (Evans 14). This literature included such works as Richard Jefferies’s After London, a novel set in post-holocaust London where the citizens have reverted to barbarism. The defining feature that “futuristic fiction sought to portray- either positively or negatively- [was] humanity’s social “progress” in years to come” (Evans 14). From this backdrop developed two strains of science fiction that are still in use today. Both seek to look into the future but go about it in differing ways and with different emphasis on science. First is the hard/ didactic strain of sf developed in the writings of Jules Verne. Here the science is the subject of the story. In fact, many of his works were written to be educational, using the fantastical nature of story to impart learning upon the reader. Examples of this can be seen in the use of geology and paleontology in Journey to the Center of the Earth and through the use of oceanography and marine biology in Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. Verne’s publisher, Pierre-Jules Hetzel, is quoted about the nature of Verne’s work in saying that “The goal of this series is, in fact, to outline all the geographical, geological, physical, and astronomical knowledge amassed by modern science and to recount, in an entertaining and picturesque format,….the history of the universe” (Evans 1988: 3). The second prominent strain of sf developed around this period comes from the work of H. G. Wells. This sect of the sf genre uses science as a means for plot progression but is not the subject, “science in the narrative process itself shifts from primary position to secondary, from subject to context” (Evans 1988b: 1). Wells used many of the topoi and tropes already contained within the genre and brought them new life with his stories. The majority of these stories looked at the impact of scientific discovery on humanity. “So soon as the hypothesis is launched, the whole interest becomes the interest of looking at human feelings and human ways, from the new angle that has been acquired” (Wells quoted in Evans). Examples of this can be seen in Wells use of the time-travel novel in The Time Machine (1895) and the mad-scientist topoi represented in two novels The Island of Doctor Moreau (1896) and The Invisible Man (1897). Both strains and authors have had a huge impact on the sf genre over the past century. Contained within these diverse works is a similarity and idea that is persistent in the genre and rather important to my argument. That is, that science fiction attempts to look into the future by examining the past and present. “Looking into the future” may be taken the wrong way so let me elaborate. Science fiction is a meeting zone for cultures to deal with problems. By imaging the future of a people, or all people, the writer is imagining how current conflicts or issues will develop or be resolved. If those issues happen to be with differing cultures or differing groups of any sort then sf is trying to predict cultural interaction. Due to the diverse nature of culture these predictions are affected by many things such as geography, power relations, history, and technology but to name a few. This is the base, and a fundamental drawing point, of sf today.

Utopia in the Global Market.. Say Whaaat?

Interestingly enough, there are similarities between the science fiction representations of utopia and the globalized/ globalizing world in which we find ourselves. As stated utopias often have a supra-government that unites the people of many nations, and therefore has some measure of power and means of control. The ideal is that there is very little conflict but this is rarely the case. These things are present in the world today. Hardt and Negri point them out in "Empire." First are the controlling forces of the world. The global entity of control as pointed out is the world market or the empire of the dollar. All countries are subject to its control by the fact that they can be shut off from it. therefore no money is coming in and they must try to make do with what they have. This can be hard when all you have is production of goods that are non-essential. Second is the control of on a much more individual basis. Hardt and Negri use the ideas of a society of control and biopolitical power, found in Foucault's work, to explain this which also functions as a main tie to education. The society of control is very important because of it's functions. First, being a society, it teaches us how to act within the world. Second, the society of control teaches us by regulating what is acceptable and what is not. unique about the society of control is that it is expressed almost entirely through the social field, in the actions and reaction of the individuals within the society. This makes the controlling systems very fluid and flexible. There is no set "in" and "out." instead these are defined by the people in the moment. The ways in which this control is exercised is located in our communication systems. For example, Facebook allows anyone to post almost any thought that they like. But what stops people from posting comments in support of genocide? Well there are two things that normally stop people. First is Facebook itself. Being a single organization that has a lot of control over how people communicate with others because society has given them that power. The second is society itself. If someone were to post some horrific comment the others who see that comment are able, and usually willing, to instantly respond (positively and negatively) or to shun that person. Therefore the control and discipline of people is largely left in the hands of individuals. This leads Hardt and Negri to say "The society of control might thus be characterized by an intensification and generalization of the normalizing apparatuses of disciplinarity that internally animate our common and daily practices, but in contrast to discipline, this control extends well outside the structured sites of social institutions through flexible and fluctuating networks"

"Empire" and Imperialism

After world war two, the division of colonial lands into new nation states had a great impact on what Science Fiction is today. During this period three key events occurred: the world market was reorganized along hierarchical lines branching out from the United States, there was a decentralization and diffusion of production among the new nations, and the construction of international relations that spread a disciplinary productive regime and with it a disciplinary society. By decentralizing production among the former colonies there were new power relations set in place. The geographical boundaries began to matter less and less because the world market does not have very much use for them. In securing power it became less necessary to use military force and instead the dollar became the instrument of disciplinization. Countries were more invested in becoming globally recognized because that means becoming economically viable. By having the means for production of a product recognized on a global market, money can flow into a country. For developing nations this revenue stream holds great importance. What is witnessed in these events is a break from the imperialism of Europe to new structure based on economic viability through production. These changes were not enacted by governments but instead through corporations that transcend national boundaries. These corporations brought technology, mobilized work forces, and collected flows of wealth in the post-colonial nations. These Corporations certainly brought jobs and therefore revenue to developing nations but they also brought with them disciplinization. By bringing in so many jobs the corporations were very powerful in these countries. In some instances it has been observed that the countries structure actually developed around the corporations instead of the corporations needing to structure themselves within the pre-existing political climate. As an affect the corporations then become the disciplinarian. When a country wants to improve worker conditions they had better not do it at the expense of the corporations or risk losing important revenue. Also, by being based in several countries, transnationals have created a new system of power, in the global environment, based on the flow of money. Therefore it is crucial for the countries to keep production high and therefore enrich their economy. The country's no longer produce goods mainly for their own consumption, but instead for sale on the global market. This is the situation in which a lot of third world science fiction emerges. The people see the controlling forces and write what they see. New corporations bringing "better" technology accompanied by the promise of a better life leads to examples like those found in Ginway. (Almost all of this comes from "Empire" by Hardt and Negri)

Utopia

Utopia usually refers to an idealized perfection of society. It is an extremely important aspect of the genre of science fiction represented most famously by works like 1984 and Brave new world. Contained within Utopia there is the idea of harmony and peace among all people and forces. Usually this peace is achieved through the recognition of a uniting force. In Brave new world this uniting force is the government and socially endorsed drug "Soma" which is how all people relax. In many other examples the uniting force is a supra government. A government that transcends conventional geographic borders and cultural boundaries. To do this the government must control or regulate very diverse groups of people or attempt to make a singular group of people. The means to do this is to educate people on why they need the government. Most often in the genre these systems are imperfect. People see who is pulling the strings and usually find something wrong with the reason why or the methods used to achieve control. Thus the protagonist (usually) tries to stop the process through which the government maintains power (the education and conditioning of people). In other instances however, this supragovernments are not such a bad thing. The most popular example of this is found in the Star Trek series with the "Federation of Planets." The Federation sends missions to remote parts of the universe to discover what is out there and that is all the missions are supposed to do. The missions are supposed to follow "Prime Directive One" which is to not not interfere with any species development. The implications of this are vast. This standing order simultaneously prevents the atrocities of imperialism as well as attempting to preserve the natural process by which ecosystems/species/cultures form. The conflict in the series usually comes from not obeying this order thereby forcing the crew to deal with the consequences according to the context of their situation.

Rough Version: SF as a means to express Feelings

Science Fiction holds a unique place in modern literature, developing as an outlet of the peoples imagination of the future. In the 18 through 1900s with the industrial revolution and the enlightenment people were curious and intrigued by all the new uses of technology and science. The writers of the era expressed these curiosities and concerns in their work by imaging what would come of these new ideas and technologies. From Mary Shelley to Phillip dick writers were exploring the consequences of human achievement. From this arose the popular notion that SF tells us what the future could be. Not necessarily what the future will be but just a sample of what it could be like. As all good writers do SF writers have always used what they knew about their world in order to construct the imagined world of the future. By imagining the future of a people, SF writers, are imagining how current conflicts or issues will develop/ be resolved. If those issues happen to be with differing groups (whether human or not) then SF is trying to predict cultural interaction. Therefore SF is subject to being affected by many things such as geography, technology, history, and power relations to name but a few.
People are subject to the place in which they are born. Nobody choses it, it is given to them and they make their life around this. What happens if you are born in area that is rich in natural resources? Supposing this, what if a group decides they need these resources and begins to dominate your geography in order to obtain theses resources? Well then you would be one of about 3 billion people. Many people have had to endure this type of struggle and it has naturally affected the art and the literature that comes out the region. In Ginway’s “A working model for analyzing third world SF” the author argues that because of Brazils location in an increasingly globalized world, the SF that comes out of the country is greatly affected. Ginway elaborates by explaining that the SF of Brazil does not domesticate the technology of the larger world. It does not make technology its own. Instead it views technology suspiciously as something “developed at the expense of Brazilian identity.” Early on the genre in represented the people as peace loving and more powerful than the technology of the first world. An example can be found in Guido Wilmar Sassi’s 1963 work “Mission T-935.” As time progressed these feelings became broader. It was no longer about what technology did to the Brazilians but instead the countries increasingly marginalized position in a globalizing world. Braulio tavares’s work “The Ishtarians are Among Us” is a great example of this by paralleling the struggle of Brazil against stronger economies and expansive cultures of developed nations.
By publishing these works Brazilians, and people from countries in similar situations are venting their feelings and attitudes towards the situations in which they have been placed. They are venting about how things have changed and how they will change in the times to come. This is the intersection of culture and education. When things change redefinition and re-education become highly important. In the case of brazil the change is being able to recognized that they are unable to keep up with the more developed countries simply because of their location in space and time but at the same time they are unable to remain independent of the globalizing world. They may not have much influence in such a connected world but they are also effortless to stop themselves from being influenced. This creates a conflict of identity. Who are we in this world? What do we have to contribute? Or what are we losing by having to deal with everybody else in order to get by? To establish identity there must be an established placed for the entity to exist. Where do we belong socio-culturally in this world? This involves learning the power structures of the world. To determine who you influence and who has influence over you. Learning to work within the systems that have been set in the world. What they are working for is of little matter for the point I am attempting to make. That point is that the education of the people of Brazil, or countries in similar situations, will be highly inundated with feelings of being less powerful, or even put upon, by the expansive cultures of the developed world. This education can come in so many different and varying forms that it is hard to even limit it to education. It is more of a living conditioning. Formal education through schools reinforces that science and capitalism and the western way are the best. Then outside of the education systems, the expansive cultures of the developed world push people into believing that they have need or want of the technologies, ideas, and services of the developed world.

Science Fiction as a Means to Convey Cultural Sentiments

+Used to express feelings about the role of technology in culture
- Also expresses feelings about marginalized positions in
globalized world
+Increased information sharing leads to a bleeding and blending of cultures
-Science fiction can and has been used as an outlet to express
these feelings
-Uppinder Mehans "It Happened Tomorrow"
=Indian struggle for technological growth without becoming neo-
colonial
+ Make technology domesticated by showing its use in
traditional Indian society and religion
-M Elizabeth Ginway argues that Brazilian SF does not domesticate
technology but instead views it suspiciously as something
developed at the expense of Brazilian identity
=Early SF showed peace-loving Brazilians as more powerful than
technology- Guido Wilmar Sassi's "Mission T-935"
=Recent SF is critical of Brazil's increasingly marginalized
position in a global economy
+Bravlio Tavares's "The Ishtarians are among Us"
+Henrique Flory's "Invaders"
Both parallel Brazil's struggle against stronger economics and
expansive culture of developed nations