From Pensive Vegetables to Feminine Men: The Dialogical Posthuman in Silko, Moure, and Jen

Abstract

"Departing from a criticism of the Enlightenment subject, posthumanism can acquire several forms and encompass diverse disciplines. This article fosters a dialogical approach to posthumanism that puts it together both with ethical currents of thought and with literary texts. In reading Gish Jen’s, Erín Moure’s, and Leslie Marmon Silko’s works from a dialogical posthumanist perspective, I attempt to go beyond the binaries that dominate Western forms of thought, while seeking to build ethical relations. By putting into dialogue literatures from Chinese-American, European-Canadian, and Indigenous backgrounds, I explore the multiple continuities and connections between them. I believe in the power of reading and writing as reflexive modes of rebellion that can transform our ways of thinking and have a social impact. Once we manage to pull down mental hierarchies, there is room for ethical and/or dialogical encounters. Therefore, this article acknowledges and cherishes the ethical continuum, not only between the human and the nonhuman, but also among people and their cultural manifestations. This article also intends to explore dialogical posthumanism as a critical framework through close readings of these literary texts."