'The Human Contradiction'
Identity and/as Essence in Octavia E. Butler's Xenogenesis Trilogy
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 23197818 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Jeffrey Allen Tucker (0000-0003-2763-0355, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2007 |
| Volume | 37 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 164-181 |
| Publication date | 2007-01-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The Yearbook of English Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0306-2473 • E-ISSN: 2222-4289 |
| Publisher | Project MUSE (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1353/yes.2007.0001 |
| OpenAlex | W4205458328 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
In Octavia E. Butler's "Xenogenesis trilogy" (1987-89) aliens seek to interbreed with the survivors of a nuclear war to remove a conflict between humanity's genetic traits: intelligence and hierarchical thinking. Extant criticism shows "Xenogenesis" contributing to debates about race and identity politics. Race does not evaporate upon contact with an extraterrestrial intelligence; rather, race persists not in a sense that makes "Xenogenesis" a neo-slave narrative, but in other participations in the African- /// American literary tradition and assertions of black cultural heritage. Gender also persists upon contact with Butler's aliens. "Xenogenesis" does not theorize gender as an essentialism; rather, it ascribes behaviour to genetics in order to critique hierarchical thinking.
Aesthetics · Art · Contradiction · Criticism · Epistemology · Essentialism · Humanity · Identity (music) · Literature · Narrative · Political science · Politics · Race (biology) · Sociology · Theology · Trilogy · Gender Studies · Law · Philosophy · Utopian, Dystopian, and Speculative Fiction
| Citations per year | 2 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2025 - 2026 (2) |
| Highly cited | No |