QPIRG McGill The Fight Awakens: The Radical Possibilities & Failures of Science Fiction Panel
As radical nerds, we want to create a space to explore our commitment to transforming our lives and relationships through our love of science fiction as well as our experiences organizing and acting in our homes and on the streets. How does science fiction inform our politics and actions, and facilitate visions of the future that resist the Empire? How do our politics influence what we love about scifi?
At its best, science fiction articulates new ways for people to live with and relate to one another, exploring complex social circumstances and seeking answers to issues and questions that mirror - or even predict - those that are present in contemporary society. On the other hand, science fiction can be used to play out the anxieties of the powerful, cementing and naturalizing hierarchies through narratives of invasion, assimilation, and conquest. What can science fiction contribute to our struggles against power and authority? How do we mobilize the lessons of science fiction in our daily lives? Where and how do our geekiness and militancy intersect?
This panel brings together radical nerds to discuss the glories and limitations of science fiction in our struggles against oppression, the state and its institutions, and all the bullshit that we face as marginalized people.
Panelist Bios:
Molly Swain is an otipêmsiw-iskwêw currently living in amiskwacîwâskahikan and completing a Masters in Native Studies at the University of Alberta. She is the co-host of the Indigenous Feminist science fiction podcast Métis in Space and a self-described ‘big giant nerd.’ Her favourite Star Trek is the Original Series.
Becca Yu has spent countless hours pretending to sit in meetings, exist in the world, or do finances at a non-profit--when secretly she is thinking about that sci fi/fantasy thing she watched last night or 10 years ago, and how many feelings it gave her, and asking herself why the writers had to do that ONE THING? Why did they have to do that thing?? If you understand this feeling, maybe you can be friends, or at least you might enjoy listening to her discuss with other radical nerds. Also, she's spent hundreds of hours reading (sometimes writing…) fanfiction and loves to talk about the ways we can world-build our own stories. So, there's that. Also, she's mixed Chinese/white, super gay, anarchist-y, and if she had to make a choice: Deep Space 9.
James Goddard is an inter-disciplinary artist. His artistic and curatorial practices both regularly explores issues related and the bringing about of a better world. In particular his solo performance project Skin Tone is deeply indebted to the long, tradition of sonic afro-futurity that traces it's lineage from avant-garde jazz to cutting-edge electronic music. An avid reader of science fiction since youth, he's probably watched the Hugo Awards Livestream more times than he would like to admit.
Noah E. is a shy, brainweird Jewish nerd who mostly talks to people by facilitating workshops, and who has lots of feelings about birds. Noah also really likes cetaceans and has a lot of thoughts about the use of whales as a plot device in Star Trek IV. Noah is bad at sitting still, but good at listening, and spends a lot of time thinking about words (often in multiple languages simultaneously). Noah finds it amusing to play music from Star Wars on brass instruments and plastic xylophones, and is particularly partial to The Next Generation series.
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