Overview

Original Research

CONTINGENCY OF DYSTOPIAN SOCIAL REALITY: AN AFROFUTURISTIC STUDY OF OCTAVIA ESTELLE BUTLER’S KINDRED

S. VINAYAGAMOORTHI 1, and Dr. K. THAYALAMURTHY 2.

Vol 18, No 10 ( 2023 )   |  DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.10068718   |   Author Affiliation: PhD Research Scholar, Department of English, Annamalai University, Chidambaram, Tamilnadu, India 1; Assistant Professor, Department of English, Government Arts and Science College, Thiruvennainallur, Tamilnadu, India 2.   |   Licensing: CC 4.0   |   Pg no: 1327-1332   |   Published on: 23-10-2023

Abstract

This paper delineates Butler’s postmodern technique of instilling hope for an Afrofuturistic vision from the state of dystopian social reality in Octavia Estelle Butler’s Kindred. Butler is the poster child for establishing black female heroines in science fiction and Afrofuturism as viable identities. The novel, Kindred, describes a white supremacist society in which African Americans are treated as second-class citizens despite having darker skin than white people. Dana, the main character, only makes the difficult decision to travel to her ancestral home after learning about the connections between the freedom of plantation slaves from Rufus, her ancestor. Dana suffers from psychological problems related to heteroclite potential difference, slavery, and racial prejudice that are upheld by the societies of her ancestors’ past and present.

Keywords

Black, Past, Slavery, Present, Identity, Afrofuturism.