Colonizing the Deep

Ray Nayler’s The Mountain in the Sea (2022) qualifies as an interesting narrative about the rising use of technology in postmodern reality. The novel opens up new horizons for exploration and analysis about the way we observe the world. Thus, this paper attempts to explore and analyze the text through the binoculars of postcolonial theory and posthumanism. The paper also analyzes the way the novel exemplifies modern forms of colonization perpetuated by the exploitation of both humans, nonhumans and android robots by a corporation. The paper will provide other ways of criticism through questioning private corporations that serve human-centrism. The novel also challenges anthropocentric treatment of the corporation which functions as a centralist agency manipulating intelligence and agency of humans, nonhumans and androids alike. The paper reminds us that colonial legacy is still and sound to these days and that other forms of exploitation and manipulations are underway to serve the policies of sense-less entities such as DIANIMA in the novel. Through both posthumanism and postcolonialism, this paper argues that Nayler’s narrative is an attempt towards redefinition of interspecies ethical respect and responsibility in their mutual struggle for justice. This interdisciplinary reading argues that ethical responsibility in the Anthropocene must transcend species boundaries, challenging the ongoing colonial patterns that exploit both human and nonhuman life and sentient consciousness. Keywords: Postcolonialism; Posthumanism; Corporate colonialism; Science fiction; Neocolonialism

Anthropocene · Anthropocentrism · Colonialism · Ecocriticism · Narrative · Posthuman · Posthumanism · Ecocriticism and Environmental Literature · Posthumanist Ethics and Activism · Utopian, Dystopian, and Speculative Fiction