Editing Octavia E. Butler (section)

=== Remaking of the human ===
In his essay on the [[Sociobiology|sociobiological]] backgrounds of Butler's ''Xenogenesis'' trilogy, J. Adam Johns describes how Butler's narratives counteract the [[death drive]] behind the hierarchical impulse with an innate love of life ([[biophilia hypothesis|biophilia]]), particularly of different, strange life.<ref name="Johns">Johns, J. Adam. "Becoming Medusa: Octavia Butler's ''Lilith's Brood'' and Sociobiology." ''Science Fiction Studies'' 37.3 (2010): 382–400.</ref> Specifically, Butler's stories feature [[Genetics in fiction|gene manipulation]], interbreeding, [[interracial marriage]] and [[miscegenation]], [[Symbiosis in fiction|symbiosis]], mutation, alien contact, [[rape]], [[intersectionality]], contamination, and other forms of hybridity as the means to correct the sociobiological causes of hierarchical violence.<ref name="Ferreira">Ferreira, Maria Aline. "Symbiotic Bodies and Evolutionary Tropes in the Work of Octavia Butler." ''Science Fiction Studies'' 37. 3 (November 2010): 401–415.</ref> As De Witt Douglas Kilgore and Ranu Samantrai note, "in [Butler's] narratives the undoing of the human body is both literal and metaphorical, for it signifies the profound changes necessary to shape a world not organized by hierarchical violence."<ref name="Kilgore">Kilgore, De Witt Douglas, and Ranu Samantrai. "A Memorial to Octavia E. Butler." ''Science Fiction Studies'' 37.3 (November 2010): 353–361. {{JSTOR|25746438}}.</ref> The evolutionary maturity achieved by the bioengineered hybrid protagonist at the end of the story, then, signals the possible evolution of the dominant community in terms of tolerance, acceptance of diversity, and a desire to wield power responsibly.<ref name="AEW" />