Date Approved
2021
Degree Type
Open Access Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Department or School
English Language and Literature
Committee Member
Christine Neufeld, Ph.D.
Committee Member
Robin Lucy, Ph.D.
Abstract
This project closely examines the relationship between transgenerational trauma, disability, and myth, particularly within Black speculative fiction, Afrofuturism, and Africanfuturism. Through the lenses of critical race theory, trauma theory, disability studies, and feminist theory, I will closely analyze how myth functions across five Black speculative fiction novels. I argue that disability appears as a common thread throughout each of these novels as a unique part of Black history and experience. Disability culture specifically offers community interdependence, a rejection of body and mind binaries, and a rejection of hierarchies in the pursuit of accessibility. I further demonstrate how myth centers racial and disability justice, as myth contains both cultural memory and serves as a communal storytelling experience.
Recommended Citation
Tapley, Jessica, "The memory of mythmaking: Transgenerational trauma and disability as a collective experience in Afrofuturist storytelling" (2021). Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations. 1085.
https://commons.emich.edu/theses/1085