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“The new children of the earth”
Author(s) -
CalvoPascual Mónica
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
orbis litterarum
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.109
H-Index - 8
eISSN - 1600-0730
pISSN - 0105-7510
DOI - 10.1111/oli.12190
Subject(s) - posthuman , oppression , humanity , ecofeminism , dystopia , anthropocentrism , sociology , embodied cognition , aesthetics , anthropocene , fish <actinopterygii> , environmental ethics , epistemology , gender studies , philosophy , literature , art , fishery , law , biology , political science , theology , politics
This article analyzes Larissa Lai's novel Salt Fish Girl (2002) as a case of dystopian fiction marked by a concern with the dangers of the “Anthropocene” and the oppression of what lies beyond the scope of prescriptive definitions of humanity. Taking as point of departure Braidotti's posthuman theory and her post‐anthropocentric approach to embodied difference, I focus on the feminist and lesbian stance of Lai's novel. For this purpose, I explore issues such as the characters' zoe ‐centred, non‐hierarchical fusion with nature, the link to the maternal through fish smell (traditionally associated with female genitalia, here reclaimed and embraced), together with the subversive potential of female bonding, and of alternative modes of motherhood and reproduction as opposed to hetero‐patriarchal utilitarian techno‐scientific control. 1