Prairie Group, 2018, Nov 12-15. Topic: Octavia Butler.
Program Team: Molly Housh Gordon, Josh Snyder, and Justin Schroeder
Paper #1: An artist’s work emerges out of the life and times that they have lived. Share with us the narrative of Octavia Butler’s life. In what ways does that narrative connect or diverge from the stories and experiences in her novels?
Note: this paper will be shorter (3000 words) than other papers to allow time for programming on Monday evening. (Collected Articles at Octavia Butler's website may be helpful content for this paper.)
Paper prepared by: Kendyl Gibbons. Response: Mary Moore
Paper #2: Introduce us to Afrofuturism as an artistic genre and address its potential or actual use as a prophetic strategy or tradition.
Paper prepared by: Rose Schwab. Response: Daniel Kanter
Paper #3: Explore the theology - and the theodicy - of the Earthseed Chronicles. What do the characters and their scripture teach us about agency & connection, trauma & resilience?
Paper prepared by: Jennifer Nordstrom. Response: Nic Cable
Paper #4: Explore the meaning of memory and ancestry in Butler's Kindred. How might our own deep re-examination of our ancestry and the memories/stories of our past, remembered, or reconstructed, help us minister more effectively in the present?
Paper Prepared by: Ruth MacKenzie. Response: Brian Mason
Paper #5: So What? Now What? How might the practices of Emergent Strategy and the theme's from Butler's writing live in and shape our ministry (whether community or congregational life)? What old habits and practices might they replace?
Paper Prepared by: Marlin Lavanhar. Response: Ashley Horan
Worship/Chaplain: Rob Eller-Isaacs Aesthetics: Danny Givens
Required Readings
Parable of the Sower (Earthseed Chronicles Book 1) by Octavia Butler
Parable of the Talents (Earthseed Chronicles Book 2) by Octavia Butler
Kindred by Octavia Butler
Afrofuturism: The World of Black Sci-Fi and Fantasy Culture by Ytasha L. Womack
Emergent Strategy by Adrienne Maree Brown
Podcast - "Let the Ancestors Speak" from How to Survive the End of the World
Podcast - "The Earthseed Series with Adrienne Maree Brown" from The Lit Review
*Positive Obsession - essay by Octavia Butler
Further Resources/Suggested Further Reading
Collected Articles at Octavia Butler's website
Entire Podcast Series - How to Survive the End of the World
Bloodchild by Octavia Butler (Short-story collection)
Fledgling by Octavia Butler
Octavia’s Brood: Science Fiction Stories from Social Justice Movements by Adrienne Maree Brown and Walidah Imarisha
Think Progress Afrofuturism Article
The World is a Miraculous Mess, and It’s Going to Be All Right, by Adrienne Maree Brown
HuffPo Afrofuturism Article
