The CFC

8 Jan 2012

Social Text: Periscope: Vampires and Cyborgs: Transhuman Ability and Ableism in the work of Octavia Butler and Janelle Monáe

ireadgood:

For Butler and Monáe, transhuman disabled bodies offer possibility and freedom that simple humanity forecloses. Monáe’s use of disability as metaphor supports her alter ego’s search for a freedom in a world much like our own. However, by reducing disability to metaphor and by using ableist language, the real lives of disabled people are obscured. Butler’s depiction of Shori’s hybrid body serves as a flash point for eugenic impulse, allowing an investigation of the deep seated racial prejudices of our time. However, punishing characters through impairment makes disability into retribution, a just sentence for wrongdoing in an ableist world that doesn’t make accommodations for people who need them. 

(Source: areadingproblem)

Reblogged: areadingproblem

  1. themoonshinesno reblogged this from seriesofnonsequiturs
  2. seriesofnonsequiturs reblogged this from moniquill
  3. radical-cunts reblogged this from liquornspice
  4. quirkyblackgirls reblogged this from areadingproblem
  5. fleurdefocus reblogged this from crunkfeministcollective and added:
    disability & sci-fi
  6. tarae reblogged this from sassyfrasscircus and added:
    I pretty much starved salivating when I read that title
  7. allyshadowjack reblogged this from crunkfeministcollective
  8. sassyfrasscircus reblogged this from femmefag and added:
    OMG I basically wanted to write this paper but it wouldn’t have been this swell.
  9. note-a-bear reblogged this from liquornspice and added:
    Hmmm, I like this essay, a lot. But I also want to interrogate something in the way ableism is defined for Butler (and...
  10. searchingforknowledge reblogged this from liquornspice
  11. kitschy--kat reblogged this from liquornspice
  12. amianym reblogged this from liquornspice and added:
    This is the best thing
  13. liquornspice reblogged this from crunkfeministcollective
  14. cogitokat reblogged this from crunkfeministcollective and added:
    This is the best/most interesting analysis ever.
  15. queenbeehoney reblogged this from crunkfeministcollective
  16. demolitionwoman reblogged this from crunkfeministcollective
  17. jalylah reblogged this from crunkfeministcollective
  18. gibsonia reblogged this from crunkfeministcollective
  19. femmefag reblogged this from crunkfeministcollective
  20. imstillnotcomingbackmffw reblogged this from crunkfeministcollective
  21. crunkfeministcollective reblogged this from areadingproblem