Reverse colonization : science fiction imperial fantasy and alt victimhood Reverse colonization narratives are stories like H. G. Wellss War of the Worlds (where technologically superior Martians invade and colonize England) that ask Western audiences to imagine what its like to be the colonized rather than the colonizers. In this book David M. Higgins argues that although some reverse colonization stories are thoughtful and provocative (because they ask us to think critically about what empire feels like from the receiving end) reverse colonization fantasy has also led to the prevalence of a very dangerous kind of science fictional thinking in our current political culture. Everyone now (including anti feminists white supremacists and far right reactionaries) likes to imagine themselves as the Rebel Alliance fighting against the Empire (or Neo trying to escape the Matrix or Katniss Everdeen waging war against the Capitol). Reverse colonization fantasy in other words has a dangerous tendency to enable white men (and other subjects of privilege) to appropriate a sense of victimhood for their own social and political advantage