How to become-human: a shapeshifter's perspective

Abstract

From ancient epic to contemporary TV-series, the shapeshifter has a longstanding tradition of exploring the boundaries between human, animal and divine. Most intriguing is its persistent popularity within a society dominated by human-centred philosophy and the separation from nature and other. Delving into humanist and posthuman theory, I explore the (sub)conscious definitions of the human condition, its limitations and boundaries, through the literary motif of the shapeshifter – the ultimate transgressor of the boundaries between human and other – in N. K. Jemisin’s fantasy fiction series The Inheritance Trilogy. I use an intertextual deep time approach to situate these shapeshifters within the larger trajectory of their tradition. I argue that Jemisin deliberately destroys her carefully constructed definitions of human in favour of a posthuman approach of affirmative becoming that stresses the inclusion of the full bodymind and an interconnectedness with ‘earth others.’ Jemisin’s shapeshifters, then, stress the need for a transcendence beyond strict definitions to fully become-human.