Close encounters of the invasive kind

Before the breakthrough of postcolonial studies, British science-fiction authors already saw the opportunity to discuss political and ethical issues of imperialism by projecting human history and behavior on the alien Other. Case studies of 15 novels of alien-encounter science fiction illuminate the treatment of colonial and postcolonial concepts such as colonialism, neo-colonialism, empire, paternalism, hybridity, mimicry, and science and technology as means of conquest and resistance.