Ethico-onto-epistem-ology and traumatic memories in Rivers Solomon’s The Deep and Sorrowland

Karen Barad’s theory of agential realism and her notion of ethico-onto-epistemology, based on the inseparability of ethics, being and knowledge, disclaim any immanent distinction between the human and the nonhuman, the mind and the body, and discourse and matter. The approach to reality as discursiv...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor: Calvo-Pascual, Mónica
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2024
País:España
Institución:Universidad de Zaragoza
Repositorio:Zaguán. Repositorio Digital de la Universidad de Zaragoza
OAI Identifier:oai:zaguan.unizar.es:147965
Acceso en línea:http://zaguan.unizar.es/record/147965
Access Level:acceso abierto
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spelling Ethico-onto-epistem-ology and traumatic memories in Rivers Solomon’s The Deep and SorrowlandCalvo-Pascual, MónicaKaren Barad’s theory of agential realism and her notion of ethico-onto-epistemology, based on the inseparability of ethics, being and knowledge, disclaim any immanent distinction between the human and the nonhuman, the mind and the body, and discourse and matter. The approach to reality as discursively-materially constituted brings together critical posthumanism, agential realism and new materialism, which comprise Rosi Braidotti’s affirmative ethics and Barad’s ethics of knowing – in line with their respective ethics of becoming and ethics of entanglement. Bearing these premises in mind, this article presents an analysis of trans-species, trans-corporeal ethico-onto-epistem-ology in Rivers Solomon’s latest Afrofuturist works, The Deep (2019) and Sorrowland (2021) as the posthumanist means that enable characters to cope with their ancestors’ traumatic memories. The Deep portrays the wajinru as a new species emerging from the entangled intra-action of relata (the unborn children of pregnant Black women thrown overboard slave ships) and their medium (the ocean). Simultaneously, the history of the oppressed is presented as discursive-material and embodied in the figure of ‘the historian’, who hosts the memories of all their ancestors liberating the other wajinru from their traumatic history. In Sorrowland, with a marked posthumanist neo-materialist stance, memories adopt a quasi-gothic haunting quality but are indeed the trans-corporeal result of scientific experimentation on an African American sect for the US government’s military interests. The protagonist’s symbiosis with wild nature appears as the novel’s brand of ethical entanglement in the face of racial exploitation.2024info:eu-repo/semantics/articleinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersionapplication/pdfhttp://zaguan.unizar.es/record/147965reponame:Zaguán. Repositorio Digital de la Universidad de Zaragozainstname:Universidad de ZaragozaInglésinfo:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/DGA-FSE/H03-23Rinfo:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/MICINN/PID2022-137627NB-I00info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:zaguan.unizar.es:1479652026-05-29T13:59:51Z
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Ethico-onto-epistem-ology and traumatic memories in Rivers Solomon’s The Deep and Sorrowland
title Ethico-onto-epistem-ology and traumatic memories in Rivers Solomon’s The Deep and Sorrowland
spellingShingle Ethico-onto-epistem-ology and traumatic memories in Rivers Solomon’s The Deep and Sorrowland
Calvo-Pascual, Mónica
title_short Ethico-onto-epistem-ology and traumatic memories in Rivers Solomon’s The Deep and Sorrowland
title_full Ethico-onto-epistem-ology and traumatic memories in Rivers Solomon’s The Deep and Sorrowland
title_fullStr Ethico-onto-epistem-ology and traumatic memories in Rivers Solomon’s The Deep and Sorrowland
title_full_unstemmed Ethico-onto-epistem-ology and traumatic memories in Rivers Solomon’s The Deep and Sorrowland
title_sort Ethico-onto-epistem-ology and traumatic memories in Rivers Solomon’s The Deep and Sorrowland
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Calvo-Pascual, Mónica
author Calvo-Pascual, Mónica
author_facet Calvo-Pascual, Mónica
author_role author
description Karen Barad’s theory of agential realism and her notion of ethico-onto-epistemology, based on the inseparability of ethics, being and knowledge, disclaim any immanent distinction between the human and the nonhuman, the mind and the body, and discourse and matter. The approach to reality as discursively-materially constituted brings together critical posthumanism, agential realism and new materialism, which comprise Rosi Braidotti’s affirmative ethics and Barad’s ethics of knowing – in line with their respective ethics of becoming and ethics of entanglement. Bearing these premises in mind, this article presents an analysis of trans-species, trans-corporeal ethico-onto-epistem-ology in Rivers Solomon’s latest Afrofuturist works, The Deep (2019) and Sorrowland (2021) as the posthumanist means that enable characters to cope with their ancestors’ traumatic memories. The Deep portrays the wajinru as a new species emerging from the entangled intra-action of relata (the unborn children of pregnant Black women thrown overboard slave ships) and their medium (the ocean). Simultaneously, the history of the oppressed is presented as discursive-material and embodied in the figure of ‘the historian’, who hosts the memories of all their ancestors liberating the other wajinru from their traumatic history. In Sorrowland, with a marked posthumanist neo-materialist stance, memories adopt a quasi-gothic haunting quality but are indeed the trans-corporeal result of scientific experimentation on an African American sect for the US government’s military interests. The protagonist’s symbiosis with wild nature appears as the novel’s brand of ethical entanglement in the face of racial exploitation.
publishDate 2024
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