Na Viro

 Joshua Singh

EN 376

The New World in Na Viro

One part of the assigned reading that I took important note of is how Cole sets up the main conflict in the book. Cole introduces her audience to the world of Thrae, which is the new planet Tia learns about after she saves Leilani from the whirlpool. This new planet, which “looks like Earth,” is what the Academy plans to mine and harvest exo-ore from due to Thrae’s ore-rich surface and the Academy’s belief that the exo-ore is worth the sanctity of the Thraean people (Cole 248). The conflict presented to the reader is one that truly embraces the impact of a futuristic text such as Na Viro. The Academy, which is Cole’s envisioned institution of Pacific people’s future as they are forced out of their homes and look towards the stars, is positioned as a colonizing institution that prioritizes harvesting materials even though it would harm Thrae and its people.

This serves as a shock to reorient the conversation on colonization. Pacific Islanders have been historically colonized for resources and the sanctity of their islands have been disregarded by Europeans. In the world of Na Viro, Cole positions Pacific Islanders as colonizers through the Academy doing the exact same thing to thought-to-be uncontacted planets in order to harvest exo-ore. I believe this is one of the feats of futuristic and science-fiction texts have when they play with the idea that history can be ironic at times. They make the reader wonder what would happen in the future; would history repeat itself or would a subtle change such as colonists being Pacific Islanders themselves change the way resource-rich planets are viewed? In the case of Na Viro, the fact that the Academy views Thrae as just a resource and disregards Thraean culture in order to harvest it and the whirlpool also serves as a warning of future institutions. Subscribing to institutions ideals and norms, such as colonizing worlds and ingraining the idea that this is the right thing to do in the minds of the navigators and strikers who are in the Academy, can cause people to forget the sanctity of history, such as how the Academy makes Pacific Islanders forget the effect colonizers had on native peoples as the Academy tries to do exactly what had been done to them.

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