The settling of outer space: Janne Lahti, ‘Settler Colonial Solutions to Settler Colonial Problems: Settler Cinemas and the Crisis of Colonization of Outer Space’, in John L. Hennessey (ed.), History and Speculative Fiction, Palgrave, 2024, pp. 65-81 | settler colonial studies blog

The settling of outer space: Janne Lahti, ‘Settler Colonial Solutions to Settler Colonial Problems: Settler Cinemas and the Crisis of Colonization of Outer Space’, in John L. Hennessey (ed.), History and Speculative Fiction, Palgrave, 2024, pp. 65-81

20Dec23

Abstract: Settler colonialism tries to master the land, use it, and derive bounty from it, putting tremendous strain on and wrecking environments. This chapter examines settler colonial crises and failures by discussing how the recent blockbuster films Ad Astra and Interstellar tackle imaginary settler projects in outer space in the context of environmental problems and the precariousness of habitability. In both films, the remedy for settler colonial crisis seems to be more settler colonialism. This involves a denial of the fundamental problems settler colonization causes. These films show how settler projects refuse to end, to die out, or to turn back, and how settler colonialism rejects critical self-reflection in the face of human and environmental disasters.

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