Encountering the Sovereign Other: Indigenous Science Fiction Iñupiaq Tagaq moves effortlessly between fiction

Tagaq moves effortlessly between fiction and memoir

are from Keewaydinoquay for all of us

Together they sit underneath the family’s cottonwood tree

human faces and animal forms

who lived across Lakes Michigan and Huron

Encountering the Sovereign Other: Indigenous Science Fiction Iñupiaq Tagaq moves effortlessly between fictionScience fiction often operates as either an extended metaphor for human relationships or as a genuine attempt to encounter the alien Other. Both types of stories tend to rehearse the processes of colonialism, in which a sympathetic protagonist encounters and tames the unknown. Despite this logic, Native American writers have claimed the genre as a productive space in which they can critique historical colonialism and reassert the value of Indigenous