Posthumanist Feminism and Interspecies Affect in Nalo Hopkinson’s Midnight Robber

Authors

Keywords:

Speculative fiction, posthumanist feminism, cyborgs, affect

Abstract

Abstract
This paper examines the posthuman affective communities in Nalo Hopkinson’s dystopia Midnight Robber (2000), from an intersectional approach. It focuses on the interspecies affinity developed between a cyborg Black girl and other posthuman beings in outer space, where subaltern ‘artisans,’ machines, and indigenous communities provide nurturing affects of love and compassion that engender mutual respect and solidarity.

Résumé
Cet article examine les communautés affectives posthumaines dans la dystopie Midnight Robber (2000) de Nalo Hopkinson, selon une approche intersectionnelle. Il met l’accent sur l’affinité interspécifique qui se développe entre une cyborg noire et d’autres êtres posthumains dans l’espace, où des « artisans » subalternes, des machines et des communautés indigènes fournissent des affects enrichissants d’amour et de compassion qui engendrent le respect mutuel et la solidarité.

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Author Biography

Belen Martin-Lucas, University of Vigo

Belén Martín-Lucas is Associate Professor at the U. of Vigo (Spain) in the fields of Postcolonial, Diasporic and Gender Studies. Her research focuses on modes of resistance in Canadian women’s fiction, with an emphasis on genre innovations. She has coauthored the volume Transnational Poetics. Asian Canadian Women’s Fiction of the 90s (TSAR 2011) and contributed to the recent collections Literature and the Glocal City. Reshaping the English Canadian Imaginary (Routledge, 2014) and  Differences in Common: Gender, Vulnerability and Community (Rodopi, 2014), among others. She has co-founded the electronic journal Canada and Beyond: An Journal of Canadian Literary and Cultural Studies and co-organizes biannual conferences associated to the journal. She is currently directing the international research project “Bodies in Transit: Making Difference in Globalized Cultures” (2015-17), involving researchers from 15 institutions in Europe and Canada. 

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Published

2017-12-01

Issue

Vol. 38 No. 2 (2017): Affecting Feminist Literary & Cultural Production & WHOOPS I AM A LADY ON THE INTERNET: Digital Feminist Counter-Publics

Section

38.2- Affecting Feminist Literary and Cultural Production

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