Laying Down the Lore: a survey of First Nations speculative, visionary and experimental fiction

Over the next three years I’ll be undertaking a comprehensive survey of First Nations spec fic, a field which has exploded in recent years. Spec fic subgenres, such as climate fiction, are appealing to our writers and readers because they allow us to consider issues from our past, present and future in defamiliarised and inventive ways. This project will investigate how and to what ends our writers are employing spec fic to tell our stories. Investigating these themes through genre theory will reveal important things about contemporary First Nations cultural imagination and expression.

Spec fic, defined as a set of storytelling sensibilities and/or literary techniques, has always been used by Indigenous storytellers. In fact, all of our cultural stories have used spec fic tropes and devices for millennia, to entertain and to educate – for example, world-altering climate change, time warps, demons, spirits and ghosts are found in many of our stories.

In this light, our traditional and our contemporary stories must not be read as myths and legends, but as vital and relevant stories about our lives and our histories that document how we’ve lived on our ancient lands replete with spirits, ancestors and other energies since the beginning of time. Without culturally-informed scholarship arising around the creative work, our stories are at risk of being misconstrued and devalued, or otherwise subsumed and assimilated into non-Indigenous readings.