Object

Title: (Re)imagining race, gender, and class as choice in Octavia Butler`s "Wild Seed"

Creator:

Jenkins, Tammie

Date:

2018

Resource Type:

rozdział w książce

Contributor:

Łobodziec, Agnieszka - red. nauk. ; Fondo, Blossom N. - red. nauk.

Group publication title:

Scripta Humana, 12

Abstract:

For generations black writers have been searching for ways to insert their voices into Langer societal narratives of race, gender, and class. They began using the genre of science fiction to create characters and stories that embody, deconstruct, and rearticulate many of the taken for granted assumptions regarding aforementioned intersections. The field of black science fiction has enabled authors to (re) imagine socially constructed dichotomies of black/white, male/female, and rich/poor through their texts. ; This essay examines Octavia Butler`s use of race, gender, and class in "Wild Seed" to create narratives that transcend essentialist ideologies. In this essay, essentialism refers to social positioning in which the worldview of individuals or groups challenge prevailing social narratives while giving new life to these older beliefs. In this essay the following guiding questions are used: ; In what ways does Butler use "Wild Seed" to explore essentialism across intersections of race, gender, and class? What role does her characters play in the deconstruction or development of these discourses? How does she use her protagonist and antagonist to reflect and (re) imagine the attitude or narratives of the larger society? ; Utilizing relevant examples and excerpts from the novel, I consider how Butler situates essentialism in the lives of her characters as overlapping narratives in which her characters endeavor to establish their own ideas of race, gender, and class. Additionally, I employ narrative inquiry as my multifaceted research methodology to evaluate and to clarify Butler use of "Wild Seed" to move her characters from essentialism to choice.

Publisher:

Zielona Góra: Oficyna Wydawnicza Uniwersytetu Zielonogórskiego

Format:

application/pdf

Resource Identifier:

oai:zbc.uz.zgora.pl:78195

Pages:

89-98

Source:

Zeszyty Naukowe Uniwersytetu Zielonogórskiego: Seria Scripta Humana, tom 12

Language:

eng

Rights:

Biblioteka Uniwersytetu Zielonogórskiego

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