CORE Metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk Provided by Digital Commons@Wayne State University Wayne State University DigitalCommons@WayneState Wayne State University Dissertations 1-1-2010 An Africentric Reading Protocol: The pS eculative Fiction Of Octavia Butler And Tananarive Due Tonja Lawrence Wayne State University, Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/oa_dissertations Recommended Citation Lawrence, Tonja, "An Africentric Reading Protocol: The peS culative Fiction Of Octavia Butler And Tananarive Due" (2010). Wayne State University Dissertations. Paper 198. This Open Access Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by DigitalCommons@WayneState. It has been accepted for inclusion in Wayne State University Dissertations by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@WayneState. AN AFRICENTRIC READING PROTOCOL: THE SPECULATIVE FICTION OF OCTAVIA BUTLER AND TANANARIVE DUE by TONJA LAWRENCE DISSERTATION Submitted to the Graduate School of Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY 2011 MAJOR: COMMUNICATION Approved by: __________________________________________ Advisor Date __________________________________________ __________________________________________ __________________________________________ __________________________________________ © COPYRIGHT BY TONJA LAWRENCE 2011 All Rights Reserved DEDICATION To my children, Taliesin and Taevon, who have sacrificed so much on my journey of self-discovery. I have learned so much from you; and without that knowledge, I could never have come this far. ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I am deeply grateful for the direction of my dissertation director, help from my friends, and support from my children and extended family. I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my dissertation director, Dr. Mary Garrett, for exceptional support, care, patience, and an unwavering belief in my ability to complete this rigorous task. Dr. Garrett helped me to develop an appreciation for rhetoric, the communication of culture, and the communication of identity. I would like to express gratitude for Dr. Denise Vultee, who patiently corrected my writing. I would also like to thank Dr. Terry Kinney for his initial work with me in individualized study, assisting me with not only my writing but my preparation for my written examination. Without his support I would not have branched out from interpersonal communication to a love of rhetoric and cultural communication. In addition, I would like to thank Dr. Kelly Young for his encouragement and continued support throughout this process; and Dr. James Chalmers for being a willing participant in my dissertation committee. This dissertation would never have begun without the love of learning that my mother, Etta, instilled in me. It is my deepest pleasure to thank my mother, my two sisters Jorell and Paula, my nephew Gabriel, and my two sons. Without the support of my family this victory would not have been possible. Finally, I would like to thank Dr. Loraleigh Keashly and Dr. Matthew Seeger. Each of them provided an avenue of academic support through my personal illness, which enabled me to continue my studies in difficult times. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Dedication ................................................................................................................................. ii Acknowledgments .................................................................................................................... iii List of Tables ...........................................................................................................................vii Preface ................................................................................................................................... viii Chapter 1 “Introduction” ............................................................................................................ 1 Chapter 2 “Traditional examinations of fiction, science fiction, and narrative” ......................... 10 Fiction .......................................................................................................................... 10 Mediated contexts: history and the rhetorical situation ................................................. 12 Narratology and genre ................................................................................................. 14 Science fiction .............................................................................................................. 16 African American novels and their treatment ................................................................ 18 African American women and the rhetoric of speculative fiction ................................... 19 Cultural cohesion ......................................................................................................... 25 Summary ....................................................................................................................... 27 Chapter 3 “African-centered communication, research, and viewpoints” ................................... 31 Afrological studies ........................................................................................................ 31 Acentric devices ............................................................................................................ 35 Hybrid norms ................................................................................................................ 36 Symbolic processes ....................................................................................................... 37 Anthologies and dissemination ...................................................................................... 40 Africentric theory and concepts ..................................................................................... 41 Before the Renaissance ................................................................................................. 43 iv Négritude: Francophone and continental anticolonialism ............................................. 47 Negrismo/Negrista ........................................................................................................ 48 Renaissance: Harlem and beyond ................................................................................. 50 Black poetics ................................................................................................................. 54 Afrocentricity................................................................................................................. 56 Summary ...................................................................................................................... 60 Chapter 4 “An Africentric reading protocol” ............................................................................. 61 Elements and artifacts of Africentric writing ................................................................. 62 Methodology .................................................................................................................. 67 Discussion ..................................................................................................................... 68 Chapter 5 “Octavia E. Butler’s Parable series” ........................................................................ 70 A shared metanarrative ................................................................................................. 72 History and remembrance.............................................................................................. 75 Metaphysical relationships/ancestors ............................................................................ 77 Africanisms.................................................................................................................... 79 Cooperative socialism as a tool of decolonization .......................................................... 82 Gendered relativity ........................................................................................................ 83 Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 86 Chapter 6 “Tananarive Due’s African Immortals trilogy” ......................................................... 88 A shared metanarrative ................................................................................................ 91 History and remembrance.............................................................................................. 94 Metaphysical relationships/ancestors ............................................................................ 97 Africanisms.................................................................................................................... 98 v Decolonization ............................................................................................................ 101 Gendered relativity and cooperative socialism ............................................................. 102 Conclusion .................................................................................................................. 104 Chapter 7 “Concluding thoughts” ........................................................................................... 106 References ............................................................................................................................. 111 Abstract ................................................................................................................................