Kinship in the Fiction of N.K. Jemisin: Relations of Power and Resistance examines the work of N.K. Jemisin through the lens of kinship studies. In a world increasingly suffering the effects of climate change, currently undergoing a sixth mass extinction, and where anti-democratic, racist and misogynistic 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.
Berit Astroem is associate professor of English Literature at Umea University, Sweden. Jenny Bonnevier is senior lecturer of English at OErebro University, Sweden.
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 andJennifer Ash Chapter 3. Motherhood in N.K. Jemisin's Broken Earth Novels: Resistant, Ruptured, Reconstituted Berit Astroem 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 Jemisin's Broken Earth Trilogy Lisa Swanstrom Chapter 9. Monstrous Kin in N. K. Jemisin's Broken Earth Trilogy and Nnedi Okorafor's The Book of Phoenix Marinette Grimbeek
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 multiply 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 Astroem 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, Idaho State University and author of Fantasy: How It Works
