Medicine and Ethics in Black Women's Speculative Fiction

ISBN-13: 9781137520609 / Angielski / Twarda / 2015 / 190 str.

Esther L. Jones

Opis

Through the transgressive works of prominent writers like Octavia Butler, Nnedi Okorafor, and Nalo Hopkinson, Medicine and Ethics in Black Women's Speculative Fiction explores the fraught history of medicine as it relates to black women and the inconsistent application of medical ethics in today's world. As Jones argues, black female speculative authors connect representations of personal illness to much larger societal sicknesses, shedding light on the ethical issues on topics like militarized rape, children born of war, female circumcision, organ donation, mental illness, and disability. These authors come to reveal the vital role that religion plays for black women in countering such problematic medical ethics, presenting them with alternative ethical paradigms that challenge the construction of black women and girls as "pathological." In so doing, black feminist speculation enters the larger tradition of community-building and advocacy in black women's fiction writing, scholarship, and activism.

Recenzje

"This is a work that invites all to 'eat salt together,' to understand the historical and sociopolitical complexities of black female difference that have affected and infected the national body politic. Jones's prescription is clear and fresh: black women's speculative fiction offers alternate epistemologies and methodologies for good physical and spiritual health." - Valerie Lee, Professor of English, The Ohio State University, USA

"Esther L. Jones shows how works of speculative fiction by Octavia Butler, Nnedi Okorafor, and Nalo Hopkinson offer theoretical insight into the misuses of medical science in authorizing social classifications such as race and gender by turning them into ostensibly biological categories. These works remind us to pay attention to how the invaluable insights of science can at the same time reinforce social hierarchies and, in so doing, offer potent challenges as they underscore the power of narrative to effect social transformation. Jones makes a compelling argument for the powerful contributions not only of speculative fiction, but of literary works generally to a cultural analysis that helps to move us toward more just and equitable social relations." - Priscilla Wald, Professor of English and Women's Studies, Duke University, USA

O autorze

Esther L. Jones is an Assistant Professor of English at Clark University, USA.