I Am Hippolyta, Discoverer: Genres of Being Human beyond the Prevailing Order of Man

Abstract

Following Sylvia Wynter’s call to historicize the human, we bring the posthumanist deconstruction of humanism in conversation with the Black feminist praxis of sociogeny. By situating modern categories of race, gender, sexuality, and the human itself within their colonial legacies of knowledge production, we trace the colonial archetype of the human as Man, and how we might disrupt this ever-present monolithic paradigm. To that end, we turn to Hippolyta Freeman, a character in the afrofuturist science-fiction horror television show Lovecraft Country, to explore genres of being human beyond the prevailing order of Man.

Chinese

根据Sylvia Wynter的人类历史化的呼吁, 我们将人文主义的后人文主义解构与社会起源的黑人女权主义实践相联系起来。通过将现代种族、性别、性和人类置于知识生产的殖民遗产中, 我们追溯了人类作为“人”的殖民原型, 以及如何打破这种始终存在的单一范式。为此, 我们讨论了非洲科幻恐怖电视节目《Lovecraft Country》的角色Hippolyta Freeman, 从而探索了超越以“人”为主流秩序的“我欲为人”体裁。

Spanish

Atendiendo el clamor de Sylvia Wynter para historiar lo humano, presentamos la deconstrucción poshumanista del humanismo en conversación con la praxis feminista negra de la sociogenia. Situando las categorías modernas de raza, género, sexualidad y del propio ser humano, dentro de sus legados coloniales para la producción de conocimiento, rastreamos el arquetipo colonial de lo humano como Hombre, y sobre cómo podríamos arrasar con este paradigma monolítico omnipresente. Para ese fin, recurrimos a Hippolyta Freeman, un personaje del programa televisivo de ciencia ficción afrofuturista de horror, Lovecraft Country, para explorar los géneros de ser humanos más allá del orden imperante del Hombre.

Key Words:

• Black feminisms
• genres of being human
• Lovecraft Country
• posthumanism
• science-fiction

Key Words:

• 黑人女权主义
• 我欲为人体裁
• Lovecraft Country
• 后人文主义
• 科幻小说

Key Words:

• ciencia ficción
• feminismos negros
• géneros de ser humanos
• Lovecraft Country
• poshumanismo

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors would like to thank the reviewers for their helpful comments that improved the integrity of this manuscript. We would also like to recognize the University of Georgia Fall 2020 feminist geographies graduate seminar in which ideas for this paper came to fruition.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Matthew Harris

MATTHEW HARRIS is a PhD candidate in the Geography department at the University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602. E-mail: [email protected]. His dissertation research is focused on the discourse of the housing crisis in Oakland, California.

Rachel N. Arney

RACHEL N. ARNEY is a PhD candidate in the Integrative Conservation and Geography programs at the University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602. E-mail: [email protected]. Her dissertation research is focused on environmental knowledge production and conservation efforts in the settler colonial landscape of the U.S.-Mexico border.