Cellular Self-Making: Octavia E. Butler, "Childfinder," and the Hypno-Psionic Impulse.

"Cellular Self-Making" connects Octavia E. Butler's first (and last) short story with her early interest and practice of hypnosis. The essay suggests that to understand Butler's narrative endeavors to unsettle conventional representations of the human one should turn to her archive which is particularly revealing. "Cellular Self-Making" argues that readers can understand Butler's breakdown of the traditional (and exclusionary) Cartesian subject by attending to her translation of hypnosis into recognizable science fiction concepts like telekinesis and psionics. Presenting Butler's narrative engagements with mind-body connection "Cellular Self-Making" reveals new readings of humanity and presents new Butlerian methods of survival and self-making for Black women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]