Author Type

Graduate Student

Date of Award

2024

Document Type

Thesis

Publication Status

Version of Record

Submission Date

October 2026

Thesis/Dissertation Advisor [Chair]

Taylor, Taryne Jade

Abstract

I examine Donna Barba Higuera’s The Last Cuentista to not only continue discourse on Latinx SF, but also extend it to Latinx Children’s SF. Barba Higuera highlights themes of colonialism and cultural erasure found within SF novels before disrupting them with a Latinx protagonist. She blends Anglo-Western tropes and themes with Latinx folklore and technology, creating a new canon that sees and treats both as important. Her work also allows for a story centered on providing hope in the face of trauma and erasure. I argue Barba Higuera disrupts the themes of racism and erasure in science-fiction and dystopian CYA and instead incorporates Latinx traditions of oral storytelling and Trickster figures with more common tropes found in CYA literature to ground readers in a potential world that is as culturally diverse as our present one.

Extent

61 p.

Comments

Includes bibliography.|Thesis (MA)--Florida Atlantic University, 2024.|FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection|Includes bibliography.

Identifier

FA00014403

Format

pdf

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Available for download on Monday, April 16, 2029

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