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Title GATED COMMUNITIES AND MALIGNANT EXTERIORITIES: ADDRESSING ECOLOGICAL ANXIETIES IN THE SELECTED SPECULATIVE FICTION OF OCTAVIA E. BUTLER AND JEAN HEGLAND

Author(s) Maida Chahal

Abstract Title: Gated Communities and Malignant Exteriorities: Addressing Ecological Anxieties in the Selected Speculative Fiction of Octavia E. Butler and Jean Hegland Today humanity is besieged by unprecedented levels and forms of disasters. While previously they were periods of social leveling and worked to bind the community spirit stronger than before, the nature of present disasters open doors for a more divided and barbaric future where the big money enterprises deflect the collapse on the already scavenged poor. This is how disaster capitalism operates and it brings with it unchecked violence, civil strife, apartheid, and an exponentially increasing exploitation of the biosphere. This research delves into the problems that originated and escalated due to late-stage advanced turbo-capitalism. It looks for political and social alternatives to its seething imperialistic control and hegemony. The “ownership societies” (gated communities) in the selected novels give architectonic visibility to the socio-political concerns of the free-market crusade. This study problematizes this and gears the environmental justice stance towards “sustainable eco-communities” instead. Eco-communities work on the principles of municipal confederalism and communalism. Combined they make the corpus of Social Ecology, a theory following the Marxist tradition, which looks at humanity’s potential for freedom and cooperation and demands a rational (need-based) future. Social ecology aims to demolish social hierarchy from the human condition. Distinct from mythical approaches that take theoretical forms – like mysticism, deep ecology, and biocentrism – social ecology provides practical, achievable steps to foster ecological restoration as well as establish a system of governance that moves the current environment of dominance (corporate, bureaucratic, state) to networked cooperation instrumenting collective growth and sustainability. This research employs Catherine Belsey’s methodology of textual analysis to deeply understand the geopolitical climate of today.

Type Thesis/Dissertation

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Department English

Language English

Publication Date 2025-01-10

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