Webliography

If science fiction is a genre that imagines our future, what happens to gender and race? (you can apply this question to literary or cinematic sf)

1. Bernardi, D 1998, Star Trek and History – Race-ing Toward a White Future, Rutgers University Press, New Jersey, USA.

This particular source is from the book Star Trek and History: Race-ing Towards a White Future, located on the internet through the Google Books search engine. It discusses how one of the most prominent Science-Fiction movie franchises, Star Trek, is influenced and affected by race. In particular how “Trek” is an enduring icon in United States popular culture – yet it shows not a divine ‘race-free culture’, as many fans of the show believe, but stereotypical articulations of race – “…darkening up an alien species in order to make them seem more ominous and threatening. Many evil aliens in Trek are dark" (Bernardi 1998, p12)The source was created in 1998, in New Jersey USA, at the height of the Star Trek craze. Subsequently it reflects an American perspective of the series – perpetuating American race stereotypes as opposed to universal or Australian ones. As Star Trek is a product of the USA this American perspective takes an honest look and how the series was intended to be seen and how it instead perpetuates American racial stereotypes.

The book was written by Daniel Bernardi, and published by Rutgers University Press. The site, Google books, was created by Google. I originally searched through Google scholar, as I did for much of the other sources in this paper, and was directed to this site. As for the book itself, it has a list of sources in the beginning for the illustrations in the book. It also has an acknowledgements section which pays tribute to the scholars that he took inspiration from. Throughout the book, whenever work or ideas are quoted, they are referenced. This allows further research and verification of the information that is given.

For the research task I would say that overall it is not the best quality information that could be acquired, however it bares great relevance to the question and to a specific subtopic of the question. As I have previously specified, the information originates from America and is highly relevant to a discussion on Star Trek, but perhaps not on a conversation of universal race in science fiction. The problem I encountered with this publication is that Google books often do not put the entire source online and, in this case in particular, hundreds of pages are omitted making it very difficult to examine the source thoroughly.

2. Ferguson, K, Ashkenazi, G & Schultz, W 1997, Political Science Fiction, University of South Carolina Press, USA.

This resource is another book obtained from Google Books, an option through the Google search engine. The book is Political Science Fiction, of which I am only referring to one chapter, entitled Gender Identity in Star Trek. Published in South Carolina, USA, in 1997, this text is yet again based on an American point of view. This is as the majority of books on Google. This publication uses a large spectrum of scholars to examine the relationship between politics and science fiction. The specific chapter that I am referring to discusses how, in Star Trek, Gender Identity changes from being conventional gender identities in the beginning – to changing in the sequel (The Next Generation). This shift reflects perhaps years of feminism or post-modern ideas surround altering categories of identity. This resource raises interesting questions about how the stereotype of femininity – irrational and emotional – is reflected through science fiction, and how power is legitimized by a character's maleness.

The book is made available online by Google Books. There are many authors for each chapter, all edited by Donald M. Hassler and Clyde Wilcox. The Gender Identity in Stark Trek chapter that I am referring too was contributed to by Kathy E. Ferguson, Gilad Ashkenazi and Wendy Schultz. The editors are attributed to being professors of science fiction in the beginning of the book – however the writers of this chapter are briefly mentioned in the introduction, but not much is said about their scholarly authority. The end of the chapter is very well referenced, a list of sources allows further assessment of the arguments presented.

The material is fairly well referenced however it is not the highest standard of scholarly resource that could be obtained, however it provides current pop-culture information and references about gender relations in the Star Trek phenomenon. Overall the book provides useful information, in the form of a series of essays, about the politics surrounding science fiction (an interpretation of life in the future). This book could only have been uncovered through the internet and although some pages are omitted – the chapter that I am most interested in is there. In a library I would have been overwhelmed with irrelevant books, unable to find specific chapters. Google Books allows a search of every relevant word in the book – allowing the most important information to be found first.

3. Mitchell, K, 2006, 'Bodies that Matter: Science Fiction, Technoculture and Gendered Body', Journal of Science Fiction Studies, vol. 33 no. 1, pp. 109-128.

This journal article offers an interesting scholarly perspective on the use of Femininity in science fiction. It evaluates how SF can "reformulate the social and cultural meanings of the gendered body" (Mitchell 2006, p126). The source was obtained of the JSTOR database, from the UWA Supersearch search engine. It is highly relevant to the topic and the ideas, although some complex, should be thoroughly referenced in an essay on this question. It originates from the journal of Science Fiction Studies and subsequently is of high credibility and has high relevance to the topic at hand. The whole volume, Bodies That Matter: Science Fiction, Technoculture, and the Gendered Body, was published in 2006, volume 33 of a series, and the article of most interest to me is Bodies that Matter: Science Fiction, Technoculture and Gendered Body (Mitchell 2006, pp109-128). It is thus extremely relevant, being only 4 years old, and provides and educated scholarly assessment on the issue of gender in science fiction.

The intention of the site that this article is obtained from, JSTOR, is "part of ITHAKA, a not-for-profit organization helping the academic community use digital technologies…". (Provided in the footer on the JSTOR website). The Author of this article, Kaye Mitchell, is not verified as being an academic of any source, however all sources that are utilized are referenced thoroughly at the end of the article.

This material provides an academic view of gender representation in the science fiction genre. It provides a multitude of relevant sources, and for a university level research essay – it provides comprehensive quotes and examples. The short time that it takes to search for this article online is much more comprehensive than looking through a hardcopy of this enormous journal, only to locate this one article. The JSTOR database, when searched correctly, offers relevant and informative resources needed for research at a university level.

4. Feasey, R 2008, Masculinity and Popular Television, Edinburgh University Press, UK.

This is again an electronic copy of a book, made available on the internet by Google Books. The source, Masculinity and Popular Television, evaluates the representation of masculinities in a wide rang of popular television genres – in particular science fiction. It focuses on a range of science fiction cinematic portrayals of masculinity – for example Farscape and Star Trek – and assesses how many SF portrayals of men combine feminine traits of sensitivity and openness – with supposedly masculine qualities of power, strength and bravery. This resource was first published in 2008, highly relevant to today's perception of masculinity. It was published in Britain, offering a different perspective from the other American sources that I have discusses.

The site is run by Google, and this link was discovered through a search of the Google Scholar search engine. Although Google books usually omits many pages from these online books – all the relevant pages are accessible in this instance. The author, Rebecca Feasey, is responsible for all the work in the publication. She references whatever work is not hers using in-text referencing, however Google Books has omitted any pages that may have had a list of sources – making it difficult to verify the information available.

I found that some, not all, of the information is relevant to the research task. Predominantly the chapter entitled Science Fiction and Fantasy Television: Challenging Dominant Gender Roles. It provides an interesting perspective on how science fiction depicts the changing role and value of masculinity in society. It provides good examples for the research task, and I would say parts of it would allow a good quality analysis that is desired at university level. However you would have to narrow down and be specific about which information that you use as much of the chapters are irrelevant to science fiction. You could probably find this book in a library but it would be time consuming to find the relevant chapter.

5. Nama, A 2008, Black Space - Imagining Race in Science Fiction Film, University of Texas Press, USA.

My final resource, was by far the most relevant to the question. Entitled Black Space – Imagining Race in Sci Fi Film this book discusses white supremacy in American Science Fiction Cinema, "a structured absence of blackness has historically been a signature feature of the genre" (Nama 2008, p10). The material in this book is pretty controversial and not entirely academic, however it gives pertinent examples of how people feel their races are represented in science fiction. For example, one quote in the book is 'They had a movie of the future called Logan's run. Ain't no niggers in it. I said, "well white folks ain't planning for us to be here"' (Nama 2008, p10). The book was published in Texas, USA, and gives predominantly an oversight on American racism. This is quite a skewed view but is relevant since the majority of SF films are produced in the US. Published in 2008 it is very relevant to analyse today's science fiction popular culture.

Google owns the site – allowing people to browse books without buying them or hiring them from a library. It displays an important use of the internet – being able to share information across the word. The problem, as I have discussed previously in this paper, surround many pages being omitted by Google. It is rare to find a book with a 'full preview' on this website. The author of this book, Adilifu Nama, utilizes the professional opinion of professors of sociology, as well as quotes from the public regarding their interpretation of race in the science fiction genre. In the Acknowledgement section he gives thanks to many scholars, which leads to the assumption that he is a professor of some sort who has been researching the topic. Most of the works cited are referenced however part of the reference list has been omitted by Google, making it difficult for one to verify the work.

This material is perhaps the least scholarly of all resources that I have referred to, however it is the most relevant to the question on perceptions of race in the science fiction genre. It is relevant, as stated above, to most SF films as it was published in the USA, however it discusses race specific to America, and not on a global level. Just like most of the sources available on Google Books, it would be difficult to locate this book in a library in Australia. However if it is located – a hard copy of the book would be preferable as no information would be omitted.