Human Contradictions in Octavia Butler's Work continues the critical discussions of Butler's work by offering a variety of theoretical perspectives and approaches to Butler's text. This collection contains original essays that engage Butler's series (Seed to Harvest, Xenogenesis, Parables), her stand-alone novels (Kindred and Fledgling), and her short stories. The essays explore new facets of Butler's work and its relevance to philosophy, sociology, anthropology, psychology, cultural studies, ethnic studies, women's studies, religious studies, American studies, and U.S. history. The volume establishes new ways of reading this seminal figure in African American literature, science fiction, feminism, and popular culture.

Introduction Jerry Rafiki Jenkins and Martin Japtok.- The Somatopic Black Female Body within Archipelagic Space and Time in Octavia Butler's Wild Seed Regina Hamilton.- Contextualizing Escape in the Neo-Slave Narratives of Octavia Butler's Kindred and Sherley Anne Williams' Dessa Rose Allison E. Francis.- (Dis)abling Normalcy: Octavia Butler's Critique of Disability in Kindred Hillary Weiss.- Transhumanism, Posthumanism, and the Human in Octavia Butler's Xenogenesis Jerry Rafiki Jenkins.- "But all we really know that we have is the flesh": Body-Knowledge, Mulatto Genomics, and Reproductive Futurities in Octavia Butler's Xenogenesis K.A. Vado.- "Your Body Has Made a Different Choice": Troubling Issues of Consent in Dawn Joshua Yu Burnett.- What Is "Love"? -Octavia Butler's "Bloodchild" Martin Japtok.- "Accept the Risk": Octavia Butler's "Bloodchild" and Institutional Power Beth A. McCoy.- "Learn or Die": Survival and Anarchy in Octavia Butler's Parable of the Sower Stefanie Dunning.- Survival by any Means: Race and Gender, Passing and Performance in Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents Micah Moreno.- Beyond Science Fiction: Genre in Kindred and Butler's Short Stories Heather Duerre Humann.