What is Steampunk?

Steampunk is frequently described as “retro-futuristic” science fiction, based in a historical time and place, and envisioning the present or future. Steampunk stories blend romanticism and Victorian social norms with re-imagined technology, usually with an emphasis on steam power and clockwork mechanics.

Typically, Steampunk worlds are based on Victorian Britain or the nineteenth century United States. However, much contemporary Steampunk literature expands on that foundation, and is set in other past times and other places in the world.

Steampunk began as literature, and has evolved into a community of makers, artists, and musicians, as well as having a prolific literary output. The most visible aspect is the wide variety of imaginative clothing arts, mostly designed and crafted by our community.

In the Steampunk community, you’ll find members who see it as cosplay, and some who view Steampunk as a way of life. At a Steampunk event, participants surrender modern society for the behaviors and culture of an altered Victorian era. We call this phenomenon Neo-Victorianism.

Colonial Britain is controversial. Why do we focus on Neo-Victorianism?

Probably because proto-Steampunk literature began with Jeter, Blaylock, and Powers in the 1980’s, who used Henry Mayhew’s ‘London Labor and the London Poor’ as the background research for their novels - notable firsts to combine Victorianism and technology in modern science fiction.

Much of Steampunk literature addresses the issues and abuses of Colonialism, and seeks to create a literary world that rectifies the brutality and dehumanization that the Empire and the US government inflicted on the colonized - for instance, India, African nations, southeast Asia, and the suppression of indigenous peoples in the US, Canada, and Australia. As a Steampunk community, many of us are exploring and communicating these issues with goals of education and remedy.

Consequently, a lot of contemporary Steampunk literature is moving away from Victorian tropes; for instance we have Afro-Futurism and Silkpunk coming into the mix from multi-cultural authors. For the authors still working in Western cultures, storylines are being written for LGBTQ+ folx, for Black and Hispanic cultures from a culturally diverse collection of authors.

What’s PUNK about Steampunk?

Punk culture is characterized by several norms.

• Maker culture and anti-consumerism; Steampunks are largely do-it-yourselfers, and create most of what we wear. We have producing artists, musicians, and makers in the community. We are conscious of the problems with consumerism, and often thrift or trade for our material culture.

• Socially-aware; we are radically inclusive and are sensitive to historic and contemporary systemic injustices.

• Non-conformity; we craft our own enclothed cognition which is radically different from the dominant culture.

• Anti-authoritarian; there’s no official influencer or leader in the Steampunk community. We often debate about what is and what is not Steampunk - there’s no checklist or authority who makes the rules.