Pessimistic futurism: Survival and reproduction in Octavia Butler’s Dawn

Abstract

This article examines the critical work of Octavia Butler's speculative fiction novel Dawn, which follows Lilith Ayapo, a black American woman who is rescued by an alien species after a nuclear war destroys nearly all life on Earth. Lilith awakens 250 years later and learns that the aliens have tasked her with reviving other humans and repopulating the planet. In reframing Reagan-era debates about security and survival, Butler captured the spirit of 'pessimistic futurism', a unique way of thinking and writing black female sexuality, reproduction and survival. Suturing concepts central to both Afro-pessimism and Afrofuturism, pessimistic futurism carefully considers how black female subjectivity and labour create the coming world. By linking human survival to Lilith's own ability to adapt to the new and dangerous world, Butler offers scholars of black studies a vital interpretive framework for thinking about the points of contact between pessimism and futurism. Specifically, Butler presents a form of futurism brought back to Earth, grounded in the sensibility of the black female experience.

Afrofuturism and Transhumanism: New Insights into the African American Identity in Octavia Butler’s Dawn

“…She reflects an optimistic vision of reversing science and technology's passive effects to transform her future and boost social status. In this respect, Butler provides an optimistic interpretation of African American futuristic identity by presenting a black female's future and genetic engineering (Mann, 2018). Therefore, Lilith accepts the gene trade with the Oankali and body transformation to gain a better future identity.…”

The Artificial Womb: Speculative Design Meets the Sociotechnical History of Reproductive Labor

“…In principle, speculative design can foster a critical re-orientation that does neither entirely abandon the historical formations and economic structures of motherhood and gendered parenting roles, nor give in to those structures and formations as a necessary limit on what comes next (Mann, 2018). Going forward, we need more and more radically speculative design, as well as more artistic and science-fiction imaginaries of the socio-political and economic futures of reproductive technologies, including their possible implications.…”

“…Speculative art and design efforts comprise future visions, grounded in a shared present, that enable us to (re)imagine social realities, offering insights into how the world might be, or be made differently, in the future (Mann, 2018). The mandate of speculative design can be to spark debate and, in the case of Reprodutopia, to imagine future sociotechnical scenarios to raise questions about the interrelated ethical issues and social consequences as we can conceive them today.…”