Octavia Butler’s novel Kindred is a tremendously engaging text for students; the
narrative structure and ethical dilemmas make a close reading of the novel, through
multiple critical lenses, very accessible to students. In order to build on traditional
Formalist and Reader Response textual analysis,1 students can be encouraged to
examine Kindred for its postmodern structural experimentation; to consider the
novel’s contribution to the slave narrative genre (even though the work is fiction)2; or
to examine the text through the lens of Postcolonial Theory.
I typically begin the semester with a few short readings and then go directly into Kindred. I find that students are intrigued by the premise and enjoy speaking (sometimes yelling) about the characters. While it's not challenging by any means, the text does force them to talk about uncomfortable subjects—violence, slavery, race, sexual assault, suicide—and offers a good introduction to ground rules for further controversial subjects. After teaching it for the third time, I am VERY bored, but they respond so well to it that I find myself continuing to use it. I find that they trust me more easily and they learn how to communicate with one another more effectively. On the last day, I pair it with the introduction to The New Jim Crow and/or the documentary 13th. A warning: it does not lend itself easily to close reading (in my opinion), but assignments based on characterization or historical context work very well. The middle sections can be slightly boring, so make sure to do some more hands-on exercises. [C. Simmons]
The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander; Cornel West (Introduction by)
Call Number: HV9950.A437 2012
ISBN: 9781595586438
Publication Date: 2012-01-16
In a bold and innovative argument, a rising legal star shows readers how the mass incarceration of a disproportionate number of black men amounts to a devastating system of racial control. This is a terrifying reality that exists in the UK as much as in the US. Despite the triumphant dismantling of the Jim Crow laws, the system that once forced African-Americans into a segregated second-class citizenship still haunts and the criminal justice system still unfairly targets black men and deprives an entire segment of the population of their basic rights.