I didn't get to attend this year's World Fantasy Convention, but apparently there was a panel entitled "Why Steampunk Now?"
Since then, there've been some really interesting posts based on the topic. I also ran across these two posts on the Aqueduct blog, and they're really good reading as well.
As I said in a recent post, I enjoy steampunk primarily for the DIY ethics (and the clothes are pretty cool), but giving the genre and its motives a good examination is not only necessary but overdue.
Lots to think about.
hahahaha ... and here I was going to send you a link to N.K. Jemisin's post on the Worldcon panel. I've been meaning all day to join her discussion, but I'm also trying to write a 5-page paper on culture change in Kaktovik and I know if I lose momentum, I'll never get started again. (Notice me slacking off online at the moment, however.) I'll check out the Aqueduct Press links when I have time!
The really interesting thing to me about steampunk is that it had always struck me as appropriative of Victoriana in much the same way as a white hippie sticking on a bindi and wrapping up in a sari. Clearly the power dynamic is different, but as far as grabbing onto the visually cool aspects without much attention to their context, that had always struck me as the defining feature of steampunk. I'd never seen it as a serious celebration of Victorian culture, let alone a political reaction to much of anything contemporary. Basically it seemed to me like a form of appropriation that was as thoughtless as any other but probably about as harmless as you can get with that sort of thing due to the relative global power balance of the culture being cribbed from.
On the other hand, most of my contact with steampunk has been among DIY enthusiasts and in contexts that incorporate aspects of steampunk into a non-Victorian setting, like Tobias Buckell's books. And I've run into enough discussions of the problematic aspects of Victoriana-worship over the last year or so to make me contemplate it in a new light.
Interesting. Dirigibles and clockwork and corsetry (within reason) = cool, the social issues of the time = not so cool. As always, it's good to be careful of which aspects you're celebrating.
Personally, I just think blimps and handcrafted brass stuff is neat.