In this micro-fiction from Speculative Fiction Tales, Jon Cronshaw offers a piercing allegory of colonialism and cultural erasure through the lens of an Indigenous Earth scholar in a Martian-dominated world.

"Meditations on the Martian Invasion" follows an academic who has dedicated their life to preserving Earth languages and customs in a society where Martian culture has become the default. Through the narrator's reflections on being treated as a curiosity for wearing "traditional" Earth clothing and studying "dead" Earth languages, Cronshaw delivers a commentary on cultural appropriation, assimilation, and the persistent othering of Indigenous peoples.

Themes & Topics

• Colonialism and cultural erasure

• Indigenous identity and resistance

• Cultural appropriation and assimilation

• The preservation of language as cultural resistance

• The myth of post-racial/post-colonial societies

• The persistent "othering" of Indigenous peoples

Listener Discretion

This episode contains themes related to colonialism and cultural erasure that may resonate deeply with listeners from historically marginalized communities.

About the Author

Jon Cronshaw crafts speculative fiction that uses the lens of science fiction to illuminate real-world power dynamics and social issues. His flash fiction often packs complex political and cultural commentary into deceptively simple narratives.

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Keywords

Colonialism, Indigenous resistance, cultural erasure, Martian invasion, assimilation, cultural preservation, alien occupation, speculative fiction, flash fiction, Jon Cronshaw, postcolonial science fiction, allegory, indigenous futurism