The inevitable other : reimagined futures and patterns of colonisation in Sheree R. Thomas's "The Grassdreaming Tree"

Abstract

The article aims at an in-depth analysis of the way in which Sheree R. Thomas, in her short story “The Grassdreaming Tree,” engages in a dialogue concerning the issue of power relations and Othering practices in the postcolonial paradigm, as well as the importance of collective memory and cultural heritage in the processes of decolonisation. Using the postcolonial discourse and theory of science fiction as the primary methodological frameworks, the article seeks to explore the themes of memory, heritage, and the dynamics of difference, with the view of substantiating the thesis that the loss of ancestral heritage and collective memory enables the unwitting perpetuation of the colonial paradigm, thus emphasising the pervasiveness of the colonial narrative and its continuous influence in the processes of decolonisation.