Work

Topographies of Gendered Violence: (Trans)Forming Hospitality in Ryka Aoki’s Light from Uncommon Stars

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: In this article, I explore Ryka Aoki’s science fiction novel, Light from Uncommon Stars (2021) and its depiction of social and spatial violence against trans* women in a North American context. I contend that Aoki presents instances of what Derrida describes as hostipitality, a blending of hospitality and hostility, to denounce, through speculation, the extreme vulnerability of trans* racialized women in the United States, and the way in which patterns of exclusion and abjectification can be (re)produced in queer spaces. Aoki’s depiction of spatiality and failed hospitality thus highlights the unique (and often ignored) forms of violence experienced by trans* racialized women through the inclusion of science fiction elements.

Source: Ilha do Desterro A Journal of English Language Literatures in English and Cultural Studies

DOI: 10.5007/2175-8026.2025.e103760

Author: Beatriz Hermida Ramos

Institution: Universidad de Salamanca

Language: English

Topic: Utopian, Dystopian, and Speculative Fiction

Subfield: Philosophy

Field: Arts and Humanities

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Reduced inequalities, Gender equality, Peace, justice, and strong institutions

Open Access status: diamond

Funder: Junta de Castilla y León