“Reconstructing African-American Identity: A Transcultural Reading of Octavia Butler’s Kindred (1979) and Colson Whitehead’s The Intuitionist (1999)”

Khalil Mostafa El-Diwany, Fatma

doi:10.21608/jssa.2020.107293

“Reconstructing African-American Identity: A Transcultural Reading of Octavia Butler’s Kindred (1979) and Colson Whitehead’s The Intuitionist (1999)”

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Fatma Khalil Mostafa El-Diwany

Faculty of Foreign Languages and Translation Misr University for Science and Technology

10.21608/jssa.2020.107293

Abstract

The identity formation of African-Americans has primarily been determined by the ethnological white discourse and the stereotypical representation of their long history through its Eurocentric perspective. Against such a discursive hegemony, the leading African-American writers as well as the transcultural critics have tried to open new channels of expression, in order to provide a more authentic version of their own legacy. In connection with this, the present paper proposes an analytic reading of Kindred, the time-travel novel of black American, science-fiction writer, Octavia Butler and The Intuitionist, the speculative fiction novel of black American novelist Colson Whitehead. Taken as representative works of avant-garde writing, both novels presumably reveal how writers and critics, alike, have frequently attempted to reconstruct the Afro-American integrity, via ‘Afrofuturism’ and the ‘Critical Race Theory’. In the process, they have challenged stereotypes and questioned Euro-centric representations, only to offer possible, alternative futures, through science fiction.This study will, consequently, contend that science fiction, as a literary genre, provides not only a redeeming escape for the African-American identity but also a secure refuge, in an age of widespread scientific ventures and extensive technological advancements.

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