By Olav Rokne and Amanda Wakaruk: If science fiction has siblings, one of them would be the labour union movement. Both are children of the industrial revolution, when technological progress was creating new types of work and new types of workers, forcing people to confront what that meant. Both are focused on the impacts of change and how we adapt.
From William Morris’ News From Nowhere to Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Dispossessed, the genre has played with what work means and how humans collaborate in times of change.
We invite people to explore the (sometimes troubled) relationship between labour and science fiction in an upcoming edition of Journey Planet.
We are interested in a range of topics in various formats, from broad issues such as the depiction of the management class in space opera, to more narrowly focused analysis such as how Star Trek: Deep Space Nine can offer a model for collective action, as well as the real-world practicalities of exploitative labour practices in fandom-related employment. Reviews, short essays, fiction, art — it’s all welcome.
With an anticipated publication date set for American Labour Day (September 2, 2024), we need to have your proposals submitted by May 30, with final copy to the editors due by July 15.
Yours in solidarity,
Olav & Amanda
Contact us at [email protected]
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I agree. Both are, in my opinion, the last, best hope of the first part of the last century, where life did get better for many people (laundry? cooking? refrigerators?), and a hope for the future.
On the other hand, if it’s American holiday, it should be Labor Day.