Past Selves, Future Worlds: Folklore and Futurisms in Science Fiction: Filipino Fiction for Young Adults

Abstract

Science fiction written specifically for young readers has had difficulty in establishing itself as a separate genre from fantasy, especially since there is a blurred notion of what constitutes fantasy vis-a-vis science fiction in children’s literature. This difficulty is reflected in the stumbling development of children’s and YA science fiction compared to the relatively clear development of children’s and YA fantasy. As such, trying to define what science fiction for young readers is takes on a malleable, inconsistent quality compared to the more established megatexts of science fiction for adult readers. It is through these unstable definitions of science fiction for adolescents that this essay examines how selected stories from the 2016 anthology Science Fiction: Filipino Fiction for Young Adults, the first anthology of Philippine sf writing that caters directly for a young adult audience, negotiate the genre definitions of ‘science fiction’ and ‘young adult’ for a non-Western audience. Studying how these imagined futures represent the experiences of young non-Western readers who have otherwise been excluded from YA science fiction reveals how the genre can widen and expand its parameters.