Latin America’s Rising Wave of Science Fiction and its Subversive Elements

Latin American Science Fiction: Redefining the Genre

Latin American science fiction writers are transforming the genre by setting their stories against the lush Amazon, craggy Andean mountainscapes, and unmistakably Latin American urban sprawls, rooting it in their homelands and histories. This renewed wave of storytelling offers a different perspective from the region’s traditional magical realism and realist depictions of violence that characterized its literature. Latin American science fiction is freeing itself from recycled stories and foreign heroes through a radical and idiosyncratic approach.

A Region Unfolding

Latin America has a long tradition of “ciencia ficción,” or science fiction, dating back over a century. However, it has often been isolated, with less circulation than English-language titans of the genre and no integrated regional tradition or market. Local science fiction communities have sustained the genre through photocopied zines and digital sharing. As digital access became more widespread, it allowed a sprawling community to share and develop ideas, spurring an explosion of imagination just as a growing number of Latin American readers and writers began experiencing “science fiction fatigue.”

Redefining the Genre

The new wave of Latin American science fiction transforms the genre by blending Indigenous aesthetics with European and African heritage, blending the themes of colonization, climate crisis, and migration with the urgency of the present. Through a subversive approach, writers and publishers are finding ways to overcome the economic and political issues that have long limited creative production in Latin America.

Sci-Fi for All

The new wave of Latin American science fiction is for everyone. From the Afrofuturism scene in Brazil to Peruvian and Ecuadorian works inspired by neo-Indigenism, science fiction writers all over Latin America are bringing together threads of their cultures, infusing them with futuristic Indigenous aesthetics while also grappling with the region’s troubled histories. The renaissance of Latin American science fiction is worth exploring for readers looking to see the genre redefined and transformed in imaginative ways.