A Study Of Xenogenesis Trilogy From The Perspective Of Environmental Justice Ecocriticism

Octavia Estelle Butler(1947-2006)is a well-known African American woman writer of science fiction.Due to her interracial identity and extraordinary creativity,she has composed popular science fiction.There are several influential works throughout her life,such as Wild Seed(1979),Kindred(1980),Bloodchild(1984),Xenogenesis trilogy,etc.Her work interweaves various themes,such as race,gender,environment,technology,life,etc.Thus it becomes a “window” to understand ethnic minority groups,African American women in particular.Among those works,Xenogenesis trilogy is deeply loved by readers and highly acclaimed by academic circles.The trilogy consists of Dawn(1986),Adulthood Rites(1987),and Imago(1988).It mainly deals with these themes such as environmental disaster,genetic manipulation,birth control,racial discrimination,and others.So far,scholars mainly study it from the perspectives of sociology,feminist,and posthuman theory,etc.There are also a few scholars interpreting it from the perspective of ecological criticism.However,their perspectives are narrow and the interpretations are not deep enough.Therefore,this thesis tries to interpret the trilogy from the perspective of environmental justice ecocriticism,aiming to expose the consistency of mainstream society in colonizing African American women's bodies and exploiting the non-human natural world,so as to explore common cultural ways to solve environmental degradation and realize the liberation of ethnic minority groups.This thesis consists of three parts: introduction,body,and conclusion.The introduction summarizes the research at home and abroad,and introduces the main idea of environmental justice ecocriticism.The body reveals the phenomenon of environmental injustice in the novel,such as social and environmental injustices,birth control,racial discrimination,and others.Meanwhile,the thesis discloses the historical and cultural roots causing above phenomenon: racism and speciesism conspire together resulting in ecological crisis;the mainstream society alienates the other;The bodies of ethnic minority women are used as instruments.By anayzing the novel,in the author' view,there are following cultural ways to eradicate the problems of racial oppression and environmental deterioration suffered by black people.On the one hand,the mainstream society should first give up colonial mentality,and on the other hand,ethnic minority groups should fully explore the ecological connotations in their own culture to resist colonial culture.At the same time,they should improve themselves in order to completely get rid of the oppression of environmental racism.The conclusion briefly summarizes the main points of the thesis and reiterates the inherent correlation between environmental injustice and social injustice.Thus the author calls for multiple powers working together to build a unified community of life,in order to promote the practical transformation of universal environmental justice.