Techno-Orientalism Goes to the Stars: The Space Asian/American and Interstellar Company Rule in Simon Jimenez's The Vanished Birds

Abstract

ABSTRACT: This article explores how Simon Jimenez's The Vanished Birds participates in but also moves beyond the discourse of techno-Orientalism through its depiction of characters, companies, and interstellar travel. Readers encounter a seemingly quintessential techno-Orientalist construct when they meet the book's protagonist, Fumiko. But their attention is soon redirected to a corporate entity whose predatory capitalist practices make it the new, menacing techno-Orientalist figure in the plot. The novel intervenes in discourses of techno-Orientalism by emphasizing how exploitative economic power dynamics are not limited to actors such as individuals or nation-states, as they are typically understood, but include corporate entities. This article thus contends that more precision is necessary when defining techno-Orientalist constructs and encourages readers to expand their perspectives as they immerse themselves in the Asian American science fictional world.