Quando penso no futuro, não esqueço meu passado: imaginários de futuro em As águas-vivas não sabem de si e Binti

Abstract

Scholars and science fiction authors often argue that fictional futures depicted within the genre are not predictive but rather the result of extrapolation (Roberts, 2000; Le Guin, 2014). These works frequently draw on the past and its implications in the present to construct an image of the future that serves as a thought experiment. For instance, in the novel As águas vivas não sabem de si (2016), the Brazilian author Aline Valek revisits the history of the origin of life on Earth to speculate on what would happen if we were to find marine beings as intelligent as humans. Similarly, in Binti (2015), the U.S. American author Nnnedi Okorafor explores conflicts between traditional peoples and those who position themselves as hegemonic, envisioning coexistence between humans and aliens within a universe and a university they both inhabit. Assuming that the future is now (Krenak, 2022), this thesis aims to analyze the images of the future produced in these novels in order to observe their connection to the past and present. Due to their deep relationship with a specific time and place of origin, the image of the future portrayed in these works depicts an ancestral future (Krenak, 2022). In order to study the relationship between time, narrative, and history, it is necessary to examine different conceptions of time (Ricœer, 2010; Martins, 2021; Benjamin, 2020). Additionally, recognizing the genre's connection with science entails observing how scientific discourse has marginalized other forms of knowledge (Mignolo, 2022) under the influence of colonial logic. Lastly, it is essential to explore the imagined future that emerges from questioning a hegemonic way of life that suppresses biodiversity and human diversity (Acosta, 2016; Federici, 2022). To achieve this, metaphors about technology (Martins, 2012), hybrid forms (Haraway, 2009), and communication devices will be analyzed in the literary works, observing what type of reflection they evoke about the present and the future.