Technology and Otherness: Postcolonial Perspectives on Brazilian Science Fiction of the 1960s

Abstract

This article examines the relationship between science fiction and coloniality in Brazilian literature through a postcolonial reading of two short stories published in 1961: "O Desafio" ("The Duel") by Antônio Olinto and "O Menino e o Robô" ("The Boy and the Robot") by Rubens Teixeira Scavone. It starts from the premise that, although science fiction is often associated with technological speculation and futuristic settings, the genre also functions as a privileged space for reflecting on historical and social tensions. In the Brazilian context, such narratives frequently engage, either explicitly or implicitly, with the country's colonial past and with the legacies of slavery and racial hierarchy that continue to shape national identity. The objective of this study is to analyze how these narratives reconfigure structures of domination and alterity within technologically advanced societies. The analysis is grounded in postcolonial studies, particularly the contributions of Edward Said and Frantz Fanon, in order to examine how the texts reproduce, question, or negotiate colonial discourses related to race, cultural authority, and social hierarchy. The study demonstrates that in both stories the robot functions as a symbolic figure of subordinated alterity. In "The Duel," the robot T-55 embodies a technologically mediated version of the colonized subject, whose existence is regulated by human authority and by hierarchies of language and culture. In "The Boy and the Robot," the apparently harmonious relationship between the boy and the robot evokes the Brazilian myth of racial democracy, while simultaneously preserving paternalistic structures rooted in servitude and dependency.