Rachel Writes Back: Racialised Androids and Replicant Texts‪.‬

Larissa Lai uses fantasy, myth, realism, and speculation to highlight the generational divides between first-generation immigrants and their children, and to explore the alienation of living in a society which questions your authenticity and your claim to a cultural heritage. She draws on her experience of living in Canada: In her short story "Rachel" (2004), Lai highlights conflicts between family legacies and personal identities within the figure of the racialised android. She questions one of the most iconic memes of science fiction--the android--by asking where racial identity is located in this supposedly neutral humanoid construction. Her story opens up the gaps and assumptions in two of sf's most canonical texts: Philip K. Dick's novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep (1968) and Ridley Scott's film Blade Runner (1982).