From body snatchers to mind snatchers: Indigenous science fiction, postcolonialism, and Aotearoa/New Zealand history

Abstract

Science fiction from or about Aotearoa/New Zealand has received little critical attention. Such oversight is even more pronounced for those science fiction works produced by Māori and Pacific Island authors. This article draws attention to the significance of the genre in Aotearoa/New Zealand, in particular the contribution made by the Indigenous writers Witi Ihimaera and Albert Wendt. A focus on Indigenous science fiction demonstrates how the genre, which evolved in the 19th century as a tool to critique imperialism, continues to do so in the hands of these First Nation authors. Science fiction by these writers consciously rethinks traditional Eurocentric epistemes in terms of subject matter (employing postcolonial historical perspectives) and technique (mixing the western genre with local Pacific forms). While Ihimaera and Wendt both employ postcolonial historical approaches, they also move beyond the binaries of the postcolonial to produce a new transnational literature.

Keywords:

• science fiction
• SF
• Aotearoa/New Zealand
• Māori/Pacific literature
• imperial history
• postcolonialism

Acknowledgements

The author wishes to thank the two anonymous Journal of Postcolonial Writing referees for their very helpful comments, as well as Janet Wilson, Chris Ringrose and Stacy Tourtin for their assistance.

Notes

1. In a desolate land man is deserted.

2. The hongi is a ceremonial Māori greeting wherein the participants press noses and exchange ha, the breath of life.

3. For a discussion of this see Keown 193.

4. A canoe on which everyone can sail.

5. Birds feature prominently in Māori mythology. Maui’s companions are, for example, the fantail and the robin. See Riley.