Latinx Speculative Fiction, Speculative Latinx

doi:10.1017/9781009314091.013

Chapter 10 - Latinx Speculative Fiction, Speculative Latinx

from Part II - Transforming Genres

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 19 June 2025

Maia Gil’Adí

Edited by

William Orchard

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William Orchard: Affiliation:
Queens College, CUNY

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Summary

This chapter explores Latinx speculative fiction – the capacious term for genres that include anything from science fiction, fantasy, and apocalyptic fiction to horror, alternative histories, and supernatural fiction and their vast array of subgenres – and asks why Latinx writers turn to speculative tropes to tell their stories, and what unique narrative possibilities genre fiction offers. The chapter argues that Latinx speculative fiction offers a powerful tool for examining race, ethnicity, national belonging, and diaspora, revealing how Latinx identities and Latinidad have been shaped by violent historical forces that veer on the otherworldly, and how reading through this lens uncovers tropes and narratives that might otherwise remain hidden. The chapter illustrates the importance of Latinx speculative fiction as a paradigm for reading, one that exceeds national boundaries, establishes thematic networks across time and space, offers new avenues for discussing identity formations, and, moreover, requires a redefinition of Latinidad as a speculative endeavor.

Keywords

speculative fiction genre Latinx literature Latinidad race ethnicity

Information

Type: Chapter
Information: Latinx Literature in Transition, 1992–2020 , pp. 185 - 201

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009314091.013 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2025

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