New paradigms of female agency in science fiction by Mexican women writers

• Samuel Manickam ^[1]
  1. [1] University of North Texas

     University of North Texas

     Estados Unidos

     
• Localización: CiberLetras: revista de crítica literaria y de cultura, ISSN-e 1523-1720, Nº. 51, 2024, págs. 50-67
• Idioma: inglés
• Enlaces
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• Resumen

  • Even though science fiction (SF) in Mexico has been mostly the domain of male writers, Mexican women writers have utilized this genre to present innovative female identities fitting for a modern society deeply informed by and built on science and technology. In this article I analyze the representation of three icons of science fiction – the space explorer, the scientist and the post-human entity – in stories by six Mexican women authors to demonstrate how they have re-imagined them to create new paradigms of female agency appropriate for the contemporary world. Four tenets of theories of feminist science fiction will be applied in this literary analysis: interrogation, questioning of the traditional male>female power hierarchy, affirmation of fluid identities and subversion of traditional SF metaphors. These Mexican women writers are a significant corpus of innovative literary voices worthy of close critical attention and inclusion in the widening canon of the “Mexican Feminine Boom”.