One of Lisa Yaszek's favorite science fiction stories is a curious tale about an alien and its "pet" that somewhat resemble vacuum cleaners. They come to Earth, winding up at the home of an elderly widow. Intuitively empathizing with their fear and loneliness, the woman establishes a rapport with the visitors, much to the consternation of government scientists, whose attempts to interrogate the aliens have been fruitless.
The premise of "Mrs. Pribley's Underdog" is that "first contact and peaceful negotiation with aliens will not occur through traditionally masculine scientific or political means," Yaszek explains, "but instead through more modest and traditionally feminine means: by feeding, talking with and caring for the alien other within the home, rather than in the lab or on the public stage."
The story was written by one Sue Sanford and appeared in the February 1965 edition of "The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction." As far as Yaszek knows, it is Sanford's only published work.
"This is a very common pattern among women writing science fiction at mid-century," she said. "They would publish just one or two stories in high profile magazines, then disappear."
An associate professor and director of undergraduate studies in the School of Literature, Communications and Culture, Yaszek teaches contemporary literature, science fiction and gender studies. As a researcher, she explores science fiction as an artifact of cultural history, with particular emphasis on women writers, who are not traditionally associated with the genre.
Women's science fiction provides a rare window, a historical record, on the relationships among science, society and gender, according to Yaszek. "That makes it a useful avenue for studying and thinking about the respective roles of women and men in a larger context and, hopefully, opens up a dialog between different people at Georgia Tech."
In a first-of-its-kind study, Yaszek revealed that female science fiction authors created the first body of literature offering a woman's perspective on the domestic social, cultural, and technological changes arising after World War II.
Perhaps not surprisingly, given the status of women in the 1950s and early '60s, much of their work incorporates some of the new and improved post-war household technologies such as deep freezers, washing machines and, yes, vacuum cleaners.
"Women writers, like their male counterparts, write about space flight, colonization of other planets, the future of computing, and so forth," Yaszek said. "But women, more than men, tend to think about science and technology as a domestic phenomenon rather than a global phenomenon. So what you see women bringing to the table, both historically and still today, is an interest in the way science and technology change the home, the family, and interpersonal relationships as well as global relations."
This distinction may be fading a bit, said Yaszek, observing that male writers are increasingly writing about such "softer" issues as well. "I suspect that has a lot to do with the social changes that have taken place in the past 40 years as men have increasingly taken part in domestic life and taken on additional responsibilities in the home."
On the flip side, what about more recent toughie sci fi women like Aeon Flux?
More recently, Yaszek's research into non-traditional science fiction writers has assumed an international flavor. While Westerners regard science fiction as a product of their culture, "when we look very carefully at the history of science fiction, we find that it's even more exciting and complex than that," she said. "Brazil, China and Japan have been publishing their own science fiction authors since the 19th century. And now, we're finding that as other nations and groups become global players, they too are beginning to contribute to this genre.
"Some of the most exciting fiction right now is coming out of the Middle East and Africa. As people bring their own historical and geographical traditions into the genre, it begins to change and it allows us to ask questions like: What will science fiction look like in the future? Can we really talk about such a thing as Islamic science fiction or African science fiction, or do we have to re-think the whole concept of science fiction itself?"
Another way in which science fiction is asserting itself globally -- and perhaps providing an application for Georgia Tech students' careers -- is by fostering a common language or frame of reference among people in different parts of the world.
"As Georgia Tech students prepare themselves to be global citizens, it's important for them to understand that certain kinds of literature are global as well," Yaszek observed. "Science fiction is an ideal literature for them to think about because they will be working themselves in scientific and technological fields.
"I'm finding that scientists, technologists and policy makers are using science fiction storytelling practices when they're trying to make arguments for new kinds of scientific research and development. When they talk about the future, they rely on the same character types and story types and narrative trajectories as science fiction itself."
Yaszek is the faculty curator of the Science Fiction Collection at Georgia Tech, which was recently described in Science Fiction Studies as one of the 20 most-important collections of its kind in the world. Her published works include "The Self Wired: Technology and Subjectivity in Contemporary Narrative" (Routledge, 2002), "Galactic Suburbia: Recovering Women's Science Fiction" (Ohio State University Press, 2007) and the co-edited volume "Practicing Science Fiction" (McFarland, 2010).
Lisa Yaszek
Associate Professor and Director of Undergraduate Studies, School of Literature, Communication, and Culture
Lisa Yaszek's research interests include science fiction, gender studies, technoscience studies and cultural history. She was the 2005 recipient of the Pioneer Award for Outstanding Science Fiction Scholarship and is current President of the Science Fiction Research Association. Yaszek’s essays on science, society, and science fiction appear in diverse journals including Extrapolation, NWSA Journal, Socialism & Democracy, electronic book review and Rethinking History. Her most recent book, Galactic Suburbia: Recovering Women’s Science Fiction, is available from the Ohio State University Press.
