White Geology and the Black Anthropocene in Climate Fiction: An analysis of N.K. Jemisin's fantasy: The Broken Earth Series

Details

Supervisors

De Bruyn, Ben

Faculty

Faculté de philosophie, arts et lettres

Degree label

Master [120] en langues et lettres modernes, orientation générale, à finalité spécialisée: sciences et métiers du livre

Abstract

This master’s thesis aims to analyze White Geology and the Black Anthropocene in N.K. Jemisin’s Broken Earth Series. This is the scholar Kathryn Yusoff who uses the terms White Geology and the Black Anthropocene in her book A billion Black Anthropocenes or None. By means of these two terms, she makes connections between race and geology. The term “the Anthropocene” was invented by Crutzen in 1995 to define our geological era: an era characterized by climate change caused by humans. In her book, Yusoff questions the Anthropocene by demonstrating that it cannot be disconnected from its colonial past and the racial inequalities that have resulted from it. She demonstrates that the activity of humans (namely, industry) was possible by means of colonialism and slavery, and that its impact (namely, environmental damage), has affected racialized communities for a long time now. Certain authors of Climate Fiction also question the Anthropocene in their narratives. Climate Fiction (or Cli-Fi) is a genre that has appeared recently to speak about the impact of climate change on our civilization. The connections made between race and geology are the particularity of African American authors of Cli-Fi, according to the scholar Stephanie LeMenager. What characterizes N.K. Jemisin is her use of Fantasy to speak about White Geology and the Black Anthropocene.