Kinship in the Fiction of N. K. Jemisin: Relations of Power and Resistance

by Jennifer Ash (Contribution by), Berit Åström (Contribution by), Jenny Bonnevier (Contribution by), Marinette Grimbeek (Contribution by), Megan Lynn Isaac (Contribution by)

Overview

Kinship in the Fiction of N.K. Jemisin: Relations of Power and Resistance examines the work of N.K. Jemisin through the lens of critical kinship studies. In a world increasingly suffering the effects of climate change, currently undergoing a sixth mass extinction, and where anti-democratic, racist, and misogynist movements are gaining ground in many societies, there is an urgent need to re-imagine our most intimate relations and the webs of kinship that form our societies, but also connect us to the more-than-human world. The essays in this collection shed new light on the ways in which Jemisin's fiction does such re-imaginative work and explores both the contemporary moment and the potential for a future that is other than our present.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781666910469
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Publishing
Publication date:	01/24/2023
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	214
File size:	372 KB

About the Author

Berit Åström is associate professor of English Literature at Umeå University, Sweden.

Jenny Bonnevier is senior lecturer of English at Örebro University, Sweden.
Megan Lynn Isaac is associate professor of English at Elon University. She is the author of Heirs to Shakespeare: Reinventing the Bard in Young Adult Literature (2000).
Michael Pitts is assistant professor at the University of South Bohemia.

Table of Contents

Part I Kinship and Agency

Chapter 1. Kinship Matters: Bodies and Power in N.K. Jemisin's Inheritance Trilogy 
Jenny Bonnevier
Chapter 2. Narcissist Fathers and Powered Daughters: Examining Narcissism and Gender in N. K. Jemisin's The Obelisk Gate  
Alexandra Stamson and Jennifer Ash
Chapter 3. Motherhood in N.K. Jemisin's Broken Earth Novels: Resistant, Ruptured, Reconstituted
Berit Åström
Chapter 4. In the Break: Formations of Orogene Childhood in N.K. Jemisin's The Fifth Season
Regina Yung Lee
Chapter 5. Intimate Instabilities: Reproducing Violence in N. K. Jemisin's Broken Earth Trilogy
Mark Soderstrom

Part II Kinship and Community

Chapter 6. The Ideal Community: Reading Orogeny through (Dis)ability Theory in N. K. Jemisin's?The Fifth Season??
Emily Lange and Megan Lynn Isaac
Chapter 7. “Like Any Living Thing Under Threat”: Kinship as a Radical Political Approach in N.K. Jemisin's Broken Earth Trilogy
Michael Pitts
Chapter 8. Kinetic Energies: Charting Family Relations in NK

Editorial Reviews

Kinship in the Fiction of N.K. Jemisin is a valuable contribution to the growing body of Jemisin scholarship. This collection puts sf—which is interested in nonhuman encounters, transformations, and identities—in contact with the political, sociocultural, and ecological questions of what it means to be kin. I believe this book will appeal to experts in and beginners to discussions of sf, kinship, and responsibility to diverse identities in and beyond the work of Jemisin.

Science Fiction Studies

Readers of N. K. Jemisin’s novels and essays know her as a fiercely intelligent observer and compelling storyteller. This wide-ranging collection is unified by its focus on Jemisin’s portrayals of kinship, a thread that runs through her work, including the multiple award-winning Broken Earth trilogy. In Jemisin’s fiction, family can be the worst enemy, and nonhuman entities can be our most important kin. Editors Bonnevier and Åström have brought together a distinguished group of contributors who invite us to read and ponder Jemisin’s sometimes scathing, always fascinating vision of humanity in all its relationships.

Brian Attebery