SFF Collective - The Rise and Fall of Empire

The SFF (Science Fiction, Fantasy, Speculative Fiction) Collective is a group that meets regularly to discuss topics relating to SFF books and share book recommendations across the genre.

Many science fiction and fantasy books draw upon the great empires of history: Roman, Mongol, Qing, British, Spanish, Ottoman. Worldbuilding so often involves the creation of cultures, fantasy races, or alien worlds inspired by these empires.

In this session, we discuss the idea of empire and imperialism, and how the alternate worlds of SFF may act as an imaginative space in which imperialist ideologies are explored. In what ways might SFF be complicit with, problematise, or outright challenge the pursuit of empire? How might SFF writers employ decolonial writing practices? Furthermore, how might intercultural SFF writers use our medium to challenge anglocentrism and decolonise ourselves?

Authors discussed in this session may include Ken Liu, Nnedi Okorafor, Philip Pullman, Jy Yang, Gene Luen Yang, Salman Rushdie, George R. R. Martin, S. A. Chakraborty, and Edward Said.

Although this is a free event, RSVP is essential.