Posthuman transgression of boundaries in Octavia Butler’s Kindred
The present study adopts a critical posthuman perspective to investigate how Octavia Butler’s Kindred aims to reconstruct and later dismantle binary oppositions that have been part and parcel of oppressive systems of power such as slavery. Opening his essay with a brief theoretical outline of post...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
2021
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| Online Access: | http://journalarticle.ukm.my/16555/ http://journalarticle.ukm.my/16555/1/44040-151990-1-PB.pdf |
| _version_ | 1848814081862008832 |
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| author | Czerniakowski, Maciej |
| author_facet | Czerniakowski, Maciej |
| author_sort | Czerniakowski, Maciej |
| building | UKM Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | The present study adopts a critical posthuman perspective to investigate how Octavia Butler’s Kindred aims to
reconstruct and later dismantle binary oppositions that have been part and parcel of oppressive systems of power
such as slavery. Opening his essay with a brief theoretical outline of posthumanism and transhumanism, the
author then strives to elaborate on the conceptual framework of the essay and the relevance of the discussion of
slavery. Through the main part of the essay, the author focuses on Butler’s primary objective, which is to
problematise the stereotypical relationship between the enslaved and the enslaver, united by fear and rape, to
demonstrate that slavery—in a sense—oppressed them both. The author contends that Butler constructs various
borderlands founded on binary oppositions to reveal the arbitrariness of the latter so that a posthuman relational
cyborg body can emerge. As the author concludes, this symbiotic body becomes a site of transgression in which
all boundaries eventually topple over. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-15T00:28:25Z |
| format | Article |
| id | oai:generic.eprints.org:16555 |
| institution | Universiti Kebangasaan Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-15T00:28:25Z |
| publishDate | 2021 |
| publisher | Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | oai:generic.eprints.org:165552021-05-10T04:25:03Z http://journalarticle.ukm.my/16555/ Posthuman transgression of boundaries in Octavia Butler’s Kindred Czerniakowski, Maciej The present study adopts a critical posthuman perspective to investigate how Octavia Butler’s Kindred aims to reconstruct and later dismantle binary oppositions that have been part and parcel of oppressive systems of power such as slavery. Opening his essay with a brief theoretical outline of posthumanism and transhumanism, the author then strives to elaborate on the conceptual framework of the essay and the relevance of the discussion of slavery. Through the main part of the essay, the author focuses on Butler’s primary objective, which is to problematise the stereotypical relationship between the enslaved and the enslaver, united by fear and rape, to demonstrate that slavery—in a sense—oppressed them both. The author contends that Butler constructs various borderlands founded on binary oppositions to reveal the arbitrariness of the latter so that a posthuman relational cyborg body can emerge. As the author concludes, this symbiotic body becomes a site of transgression in which all boundaries eventually topple over. Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 2021 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://journalarticle.ukm.my/16555/1/44040-151990-1-PB.pdf Czerniakowski, Maciej (2021) Posthuman transgression of boundaries in Octavia Butler’s Kindred. 3L; Language,Linguistics and Literature,The Southeast Asian Journal of English Language Studies., 27 (1). pp. 129-141. ISSN 0128-5157 https://ejournals.ukm.my/3l/issue/view/1379 |
| spellingShingle | Czerniakowski, Maciej Posthuman transgression of boundaries in Octavia Butler’s Kindred |
| title | Posthuman transgression of boundaries in Octavia Butler’s Kindred |
| title_full | Posthuman transgression of boundaries in Octavia Butler’s Kindred |
| title_fullStr | Posthuman transgression of boundaries in Octavia Butler’s Kindred |
| title_full_unstemmed | Posthuman transgression of boundaries in Octavia Butler’s Kindred |
| title_short | Posthuman transgression of boundaries in Octavia Butler’s Kindred |
| title_sort | posthuman transgression of boundaries in octavia butler’s kindred |
| url | http://journalarticle.ukm.my/16555/ http://journalarticle.ukm.my/16555/ http://journalarticle.ukm.my/16555/1/44040-151990-1-PB.pdf |