Seeds of Hope. Exploring Inclusive and Exclusive Religions in Octavia Butler’s Earthseed Series

Religion bears a strong ideological and cultural power, capable both of building inclusive communities on the one hand, and of producing social discrimination and exclusion on the grounds of gender, race, class, religious belief, sexual orientation and even species on the other. In this light, the dystopian and utopian modes of science fiction, by providing readers with both warnings and potential alternatives, appear as particularly fruitful arenas where to address social, political, and cultural dynamics of the present, including the potential and dangers of religion. For this reason, borrowing notions from sociology of religion, this paper will explore how religion affects social inclusion and exclusion in Octavia Butler’s Earthseed series, while also negotiating between dystopian and utopian modes within the novels. On the one hand, the novels present a dystopian scenario, where social injustice is tied to environmental disaster and is aggravated by a religious totalitarian regime that leads to the discrimination and persecution of multiple social groups. On the other, the paper will also consider instances of utopian counterimpulses within the novels. In fact, the protagonist Lauren Olamina, recognizing the power of religious belief in prompting action, holding together communities, and providing hope, founds the religious community of Earthseed, grounded on inclusive values such as diversity, equality, and environmentalism. Although the novels problematize the notion of Earthseed as entirely utopian, they show that religion can contribute to the construction and development of inclusive communities, planting seeds of hope in the midst of a dystopian scenario where social exclusion is the norm. The paper will employ an environmental justice perspective, acknowledging the connection between social and environmental justice/injustice, and believing that true social inclusion should not only embrace people regardless of their gender, race, age, sexual orientation, and physical ability, but should also be extended to nonhuman species.