Sophia Magnone

“There is risk in dealing with a partner”: “Bloodchild” and Interspecies Encounter

I focus on “Bloodchild,” Octavia Butler’s story of extremely intimate yet profoundly troubling relations between species. On an extraterrestrial world, refugee humans become reproductive partners with their insectoid hosts, a relationship that mixes familial and sexual love with coercion and objectification. Yet in Butler’s own words, “Bloodchild” is a story of love, not slavery; she insists on the possibility of maintaining true affinity between profoundly different and unequal beings. What would it take to rescript the story of humans and nonhumans on our own

Friday Forum Winter 2015 Schedule

Fridays, 12:30 – 2:00pm
Humanities 1, Room 202

A weekly interdisciplinary colloquium series for sharing graduate research across the humanities. Join us for light refreshments and weekly presentations by your fellow graduate students.

January 15- James Beneda, Politics
January 22- Alex Moore, HAVC
January 29- Whitney Devos, Literature
February 5- Sophia Magnone, Literature
February 12- Andrei Tcacenco, History
February 19- Amanda Reyes, History & Consciousness
February 26- Keith Spencer, Literature
March 4- Laura Harrison, Sociology
March 11- Bristol Cave La-Costa, History