Reading Philippine Science Fiction through Science and Technology Studies: The Space Race and Authoritarian Modernity in Gregorio Brillantes's "The Apollo Centennial"

Abstract:We propose that analyses of Philippine science fiction can meaningfully contribute to the growing intersections between Philippine studies and science and technology studies. We argue that science fiction is not only a literary genre but also a mode of inquiry into our notions of progress and modernity. Through this lens, we examine Gregorio Brillantes's short story "The Apollo Centennial." Set in a future where the Ferdinand E. Marcos regime never ended, "The Apollo Centennial" demonstrates how state infrastructural interventions can discipline Filipino subjects according to the dictates of an authoritarian techno-future. Nevertheless, the short story also gestures to the emancipatory potential of alternative linguistic and sensory modes through which state subjects might imagine other futures that defy narrative sequestration.