Child and Youth Agency in Science Fiction

Ingrid E. Castro is professor of sociology and chair of the Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work Department at the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts.Jessica Clark is lecturer in childhood studies and sociology at the University of Essex.

• Introduction: Girl Zombies and Boy Wonders: The Future of Agency is Now! Jessica Clark and Ingrid E. CastroPart I: The PastChapter One: “Why Are You Keeping This Curiosity Door Locked?” Childhood Subjectivities and Play as Conflict Resolution in the Postmodern Web Series Stranger ThingsJoseph Giunta Chapter Two: “It Was a Wonder I Was Even Born”: Reversing the Technical Performance of Childhood in Back to the FutureKip KlineChapter Three: In the Shadow of the Claw: Jubilee, X-23, and the Mutated Possibilities of Youth Agency across Generations in the World of the X-MenKwasu David Tembo and Muireann B. CrowleyPart II: The PresentChapter Four: Biker Gangs and Boyhood Agency in AkiraJessica ClarkChapter Five: From Tribute to Mockingjay: Representations of Katniss Everdeen’s Agency in the Hunger Games SeriesMegan McDonoughChapter Six: The Yoke of Childhood: Misgivings about Children’s Relationship to Technology in Contemporary Science FictionJessica Kenty-DraneChapter Seven: “Ship Wars” and the OTP: Narrating Desire, Literate Agency, and Emerging Sexualities in Fanfiction of The 100Erin KennyPart III: The FutureChapter Eight: A Pedagogy of Childhood Agency: Teaching Power of Youth in the Ender UniverseJoaquin MuñozChapter Nine: Sanctuary and Agency in Young Adult Dystopian FictionStephanie ThompsonChapter Ten: The Emergence of Agency after Bionuclear War: Posthuman Child – Animal PossibilitiesIngrid E. CastroAfterword: The Children of Wonder Gary Westfahl

Many of the essays are provocative and insightful, asking questions of how their focal texts relate to their publication eras and cultures of origin, as well as how sf can expand readers’ understanding of childhood agency. . . . Child and Youth Agency in Science Fiction is a thought-provoking collection of essays and, ultimately, a worthwhile addition to popular-culture criticism and youth agency discourses.