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University of Wales Press - Sami Ahmad Khan

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276 pages

English

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India is mutating – and its Science Fiction with it. Star Warriors of the Modern Raj is a critical catalogue of contemporary India’s anglophone SF, a path-breaking work that flits between texts, vantage points and frameworks. An alternative to a Eurocentric perspective of SF, this study avoids essentialising definitions and delves into how the world of SF (text) intersects with that of the writer/reader. Fusing paradigms of Science Fiction Studies, South Asian Studies and Postcolonial Studies, among others, the book explicates how India and its SF negotiate one another. It evolves a ‘transMIT thesis’ to analyse how mythology (M), ideology (I) and technology (T) contour Indian SF and its fictional reimaginings. This study identifies the manifestations of divine beings within SF as differing epistemological categories, locates the modes of marginalisation within Indian popular imagination as altars of alterity, before proceeding to analyse how newer technologies engage with socio-political anxieties in and through SF.

Interested in learning about Science Fiction and South Asia? Click on the link below to read Mithila Review interview with Sami Ahmad Khan where he discusses his upcoming volume Star Warriors of the Modern Raj. https://mithilareview.com/ahmad_03_21/

Author’s Note
List of Illustrations–– 3 (‘IN situ Model’, ‘transMIT thesis’ and ‘TIMography’)
List of Tables–– 1 (ISFE’s Soul)
Content Acknowledgements
Part I (SF-101)
Part II (Materiality)
Section Prologue: The Altar of Alterity
Section Epilogue: The Materiality Menace
Part III (Mythology)
Section Prologue: Hey Bhagwan, the ET has Landed!
Section Epilogue: Revenge of the Myth
Part IV (Technology)
Section Prologue: Beat, Prey, Love
Section Epilogue: The Technology Awakens
Part V (Conclusion)
Works Cited
Glossary

Sujets

Literary Criticism

Science Fiction

India

Fantasy

Informations

Publié par	University of Wales Press
Date de parution	15 juin 2021
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781786837639
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	4 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,3750€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

New Dimensions in Science Fiction
Star Warriors of
the Modern Raj
SWMR.indd 1 03/06/2021 10:31:13New Dimensions in Science Fiction
Series Editors
Professor Pawel Frelik
University of Warsaw
Professor Patrick B. Sharp
California State University, Los Angeles
Editorial Board
Grace Dillon
Portland State University
Tanya Krzywinska
Falmouth University
Isiah Lavender III
University of Georgia
Roger Luckhurst
Birkbeck University of London
John Rieder
University of Hawai‘i
SWMR.indd 2 03/06/2021 10:31:13Star Warriors of
the Modern Raj
Materiality, Mythology
and Technology
of Indian Science Fiction
Sami Ahmad Khan
UNIVERSITY OF WALES PRESS
2021
SWMR.indd 3 03/06/2021 10:31:13© Sami Ahmad Khan, 2021
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any material form
(including photocopying or storing it in any medium by electronic means and
whether or not transiently or incidentally to some other use of this publication)
without the written permission of the copyright owner except in accordance with
the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. Applications for
the copyright owner’s written permission to reproduce any part of this publication
should be addressed to the University of Wales Press, University Registry,
King Edward VII Avenue, Cardif CF10 3NS.
www.uwp.co.uk
British Library CIP Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 978-1-78683-762-2
eISBN 978-1-78683-763-9
The right of Sami Ahmad Khan to be identifed as author of this
work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 79 of
the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
Typeset by Marie Doherty
Printed by CPI Antony Rowe, Melksham, United Kingdom
SWMR.indd 4 03/06/2021 10:31:13Barkat Zaman Khan (1952–2021) and Shaheen Anjum,
abbu and mumma, this is for you.
Abbu, you left us a month before this book was to come out.
Hope you get to read it in the skies.
You are always missed.
SWMR.indd 5 03/06/2021 10:31:13Series Editors’ Preface
Science fction (SF) is a global storytelling form of techno-scientifc
modernity which conveys distinct experiences with science,
technology and society to a wide range of readers across centuries, continents
and cultures. The New Dimensions in Science Fiction series aims to
capture the dynamic, worldwide and media-spanning dimensions of
SF storytelling and criticism by providing a venue for scholars from
multiple disciplines to explore their ideas on the relations of science
and society as expressed in SF.
SWMR.indd 7 03/06/2021 10:31:13Contents
Author’s Note xi
Acknowledgements xix
List of Illustrationsxxi
Part 1: SF-101
1 Whoever Loses, SF Wins 3
2 INS Forward unto Delhi 16
3 Prayers in the Rain 33
Part 2: Materiality
Part 2 Prologue The Altar of Alterity: The Others of ISFE 43
4 The Civilisational Other 46
5 The Social Other 65
6 The Gender(ed) Other 82
Part 2 Epilogue Materiality Strikes Back 90
Part 3: Mythology
Part 3 Prologue Hey Bhagwan, the ET has Landed! 95
7 Aliens < Gods: Gods as Extraterrestrials 106
(From Other Planets)
8 Gods > Time: Gods as Socio-political Indictments 115
(From Other Temporal Locations)
9 Technology + Gods: Gods as Hyperintelligences 123
(From Other Technological Axes)
10 Mythic ⇋ Scientifc 134
Part 3 Epilogue Revenge of the Myth 142
SWMR.indd 9 03/06/2021 10:31:13Part 4: Technology
Part 4 Prologue Beat, Prey, Love 149
11 Genetic Manipulations: Genetic Engineering and Natural 152
Selection in The Beast with Nine Billion Feet, The Butterfy
Efect and ‘The Tide Turns Again’
12 Cyberistan: Digital is the New Real in Domechild, 162
‘Catatonic’ and ‘The Coward’
13 CBRN Warfare: Living the Apocalypse in ‘Gandhi Toxin’, 171
‘Exile’ and ‘Taking a Shortcut’
14 Alien Disruptions: ET ‘Conservation Laws’, ‘Peripeteia’ 180
and ‘The Tetrahedron’
15 Environmental Degradation: Global Climate Change 188
in ‘Rain’, ‘Sharing Air’ and Leila
Part 4 Epilogue The Technology Awakens 197
Part 5: Conclusion
16 ISFE: A New Hope 201
Notes 211
Works Cited221
Glossary243
Index245
SWMR.indd 10 03/06/2021 10:31:13Author’s Note
A Swastika in a Red Dusk
It was a pleasure to learn.
A decade ago, I sat in the cheery ofce of the Centre for English
Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. It was perhaps the
slight stoop in my shoulders, the constant fdgeting, or the visible lines
of worry etched on my forehead that made a friend, who had just walked
in, ask a question I had tried to avoid all my research life.
‘Hey. Done with the PhD synopsis?’
I looked up from a pink form I was in the process of flling in and
beamed a wry smile.
‘What are you working on?’
1‘Indian Science Fiction.’
‘Ah! Sci-Fi!’ He clapped my back and gazed into the distance for a
second. ‘We have such a long and glorious history of Sci-Fi. You must
be covering the Mahabharata and the Ramayana, of course.’
I started.
‘The Brahmastras were nuclear weapons, right?’ He continued,
‘nuclear energy, manned fight, teleportation, you name it, our epics –
and thus we ancient Indians – had it.’
‘Oh,’ I replied, ‘but is there any scientifc basis…’
‘Of course!’ He responded. ‘But you will not fnd it here since our
actual history has been distorted. How could you have had justifed
colonialism when those whom you were supposed to civilise had
already taken the quantum leap thousands of years ago?’
‘I fail to see how …’
‘Listen, India’s real history has been rewritten by those whose
agenda is served best by portraying us as mere recipients of western
progress. It is a larger ploy to demean our culture.’
Silence reigned the same way that bricks – or perhaps fans of
Douglas Adams – do not. After a brief conversation, my friend got up
and left. His parting remark stayed with me: ‘Focus on Pushpaka. What
a mindblasting invention that ancient spacecraft was!’
SWMR.indd 11 03/06/2021 10:31:13xii AUTHOR’S NOTE
I had but flled in another column when I heard a curt voice call out
my name. After exchanging a few pleasantries, the discussion returned
to the same topic as before, much to my dismay.
‘So…sf? Cool!’ The elevator speech on my area of research had
already been delivered, and the next interlocutor chirped, ‘I grew up
reading Prof. Shonku. Satyajit Ray is such a master. What are your
primary texts?’
‘My area of focus is English-language SF in India.’
A questioning eyebrow shot up. ‘Do we even have that?’
‘We do now. Or maybe we always did.’ With my previous
conversation still running amok in my head, I managed to mumble, ‘Do you think
ancient Indian epics are SF?’
‘What do you mean?’ The ceiling fan started to creak, that soon
segued into a mufed groan.
‘Is the Mahabharata Science Fiction?’ I cut to the chase. ‘I was told to
look into whether we could trace current scientifc discoveries to Vedic
India.’
‘Nope’.
I spluttered, ‘No?’
‘This is nothing but revisionism of history. Such obfuscation of facts
will lead us nowhere.’
An involuntary sigh escaped my lips. ‘You don’t think …?’
‘Religions and ancient weapons are …’ the friend paused for efect,
2‘no match for a good blaster at your side, yaar.’
Minutes later, when I stumbled out of that room, I was painfully
aware that my thesis was suddenly much more ‘political’ than I ever
wanted it to be. The right wanted to reclaim a golden past, the left
wished for a red future, and the centre did not know which colour it
sought. It was going to be a long road ahead.
And it was.
* * *
India awoke – and wanted space.
There used to be a time when popular ‘western’ narratives depicted
hapless Indians praying to the Taj Mahal whenever Earth was in
mortal peril – at least when they were not sacrifcing humans to gods (as
3in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom). However, by 2020, India
had joined the space race (Space Force); soon, a joint international
SWMR.indd 12 03/06/2021 10:31:13AUTHOR’S NOTE xiii
mission to Mars would feature an Indian astronaut, Group Captain Ram
Arya (as in Away) – and solar-powered drones of the Indian Air Force
(IAF) would fy across the globe over the next few decades, their coding
executed in classical Sanskrit (Interstellar). Those would be the days
4of mechanical djinns in New Delhi.
What you hold in your hands is a fan’s alternative to a Eurocentric
perspective of SF, a beginner’s guide which avoids an essentialist
understanding of the genre. It is a critical catalogue of
contemporary Indian Science Fiction in English-language (ISFE) which seeks to
understand why (and how) the world of the text might intersect with
the world of the (twenty-frst-century Indian) reader and writer. It
deals with how ISFE and its topoi underscore the polyvalent
sociopolitical anxieties of its environment and is meant as a stepping stone
for further forays into the area.
Andy Sawyer writes that an ‘explicitly postcolonial science fc -
tion not only has to be written from outside the traditional strands of
Western science fction … but explained and criticised from outside
them too’ (‘Foreword’, Science Fiction, Imperialism and the Third
World, 1–2). This undertaking stands by Sawyer’s mandate but also
veers away from the fxities of ‘explicitly postcolonial’ tendencies
(of ISFE). It is an unstable Einstein–Rosen–Chandrasekhar bridge
that connects traditions that are always in fux. Brooks Landon, Carl
Freedman, Darko Suvin, Farah Mendlesohn, Istvan Csicsery-Ronay Jr.,
John Rieder, Mark Bould, Paul Kincaid, Rick Altman, Roger Luckhurst
and Sherryl Vint et al. exist inside this wormhole – so do Anil Menon, Bal
Phondke, Bodhisattva Chattopadhyay, Manjula Padmanabhan, Shovon
Chowdhury, Suparno Banerjee, Uppinder Mehan, Vandana Singh et al.
This book hints at the congruences and conficts of global (SF) struc -
tures when transposed to India’s SF (and vice versa, since this attempt
cuts both ways), and hopes such a comparison might illuminate the
5tussles that are waged within – and more importantl