Science fiction and colonialism: a study on the relations between the two themes

Abstract

This thesis will talk about the relationship between science fiction and colonialism. Starting from examples from our colonial past I will discuss the outcomes that those episodes have created nowadays in our society. Environmental problems will be crucial for the understanding of the future implications that science fiction predicts. In addition, to argue that science fiction and colonialism are correlated I’ve chosen three science fiction novels: The War of the Worlds by H. G Wells, The Word for World is Forest by Ursula K. Le Guin and Farmer in the Sky by Robert Heinlein. These are three examples of colonization that highlight in a quite exhaustive way the conception that people have about this phenomenon. Problems like terraformation will be central in each novel as a guiding line to the fact that science fiction is better equipped to discuss environmental problems than any kind of text.