Month/Year of Graduation

5-2023

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts (B.A.)

Department

English

First Advisor

Dr. Kristin Girten

Abstract

During the 1980’s the Second Wave feminist movement provided more interest in interdisciplinary movements towards equity in the case of gender. One movement that slowly grew was Womanism, which included the intersection between race and gender. Specifically, the experiences of black women in the United States. Inspired by this movement authors such as Octavia Butler was a black science fiction author who wrote literature focused on black women. Alongside her preoccupation, with race in science fiction, Butler explores the nature of consent and bodily autonomy in utopian and dystopian futures. Within her novels, she uses Womanism to engage with futuristic visions of anxiety with bodily autonomy. Utilizing theories such as Womanism and the Cyborg theory coined by Donna Haraway, there is ample opportunity to analyze Butler's literature as a commentary on gender, race, and intersectionality.

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