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The gender games: technology, ecology and gender in selected young adult dystopian fiction
Dissertation (MA (English))--University of Pretoria, 2017.
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
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2026
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| _version_ | 1867613666487042048 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author2 | Brown, Molly |
| author_browse | Brown, Molly |
| author_facet | Brown, Molly |
| collection | Thesis |
| description | Dissertation (MA (English))--University of Pretoria, 2017. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/110080 |
| institution | University of Pretoria (South Africa) |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:39:46.144Z |
| license_str | Not specified — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from UPSpace — University of Pretoria Institutional Repository |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| publishDateRange | 2026 |
| publishDateSort | 2026 |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | UPSpace — University of Pretoria Institutional Repository |
| spelling | oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/110080 The gender games: technology, ecology and gender in selected young adult dystopian fiction Brown, Molly margeaux.erasmus@gmail.com Erasmus, Margeaux Bernadette young adult dystopian fiction masculinity femininity technology ecology posthumanism Suzanne Collins Pierce Brown Scott Westerfeld Patrick Ness Lily Herne Edyth Bulbring Jenny Robson Lauren Beukes Lesley Beake Dissertation (MA (English))--University of Pretoria, 2017. Contemporary young adult dystopian fiction has become increasingly popular among scholars and young readers. One of the distinguishing characteristics of young adult dystopian fiction is its hybridity. By drawing on several genres such as young adult fiction, science fiction, dystopian fiction and utopian fiction, it opens itself up to several meanings and interpretations – particularly with regard to questions of identity. What becomes clear in these novels is that the amalgamation of genres has set up liminal spaces for protagonists to question what it means to be human, young, masculine and feminine. Judith Butler’s idea of performative gender and Alice Curry’s exploration of the blind space within young adult dystopian settings are the crucial theories behind this discussion, and I draw from them throughout it. According to Butler, gender is not universal or natural, but rather a social construct. Children are not born with natural gendered behaviour, but rather learn how to adopt specific gendered behaviours for specific situations. Curry argues that the dystopian setting alienates traditional values and ideas within young adult fiction, allowing for a blind space to be created that can allow for traditional ideas to be reinterpreted and recreated. When combined, these theories suggest that the dystopian settings of young adult dystopian fiction can potentially create blind spaces in which young adult protagonists can transform traditional gender roles. In this study, I focus on ecological environments and technological settings and examine whether these oppositional settings allow the protagonists to perform gender in transformational ways, strengthening their agency and independence, or whether they force the protagonists into more traditional gender roles. I then broaden this discussion to explore how these novels potentially draw from wider theories of posthumanism to challenge traditional ideas and perceptions that could be encoded in the binaries of human/non-human and masculine/feminine. Since critics have lauded contemporary young adult dystopian fiction for allowing young readers to explore transformative gender roles, I will also attempt to compare selected international and South African young adult dystopian fiction to establish whether each truly depicts transformative gender performances, or whether some of these novels only portray traditional gender roles. English MA (English) 2026-05-15T17:26:15Z 2026-05-15T17:26:15Z 18/06/27 2017 Dissertation http://hdl.handle.net/2263/110080 en application/pdf |
| spellingShingle | young adult dystopian fiction masculinity femininity technology ecology posthumanism Suzanne Collins Pierce Brown Scott Westerfeld Patrick Ness Lily Herne Edyth Bulbring Jenny Robson Lauren Beukes Lesley Beake The gender games: technology, ecology and gender in selected young adult dystopian fiction |
| title | The gender games: technology, ecology and gender in selected young adult dystopian fiction |
| title_full | The gender games: technology, ecology and gender in selected young adult dystopian fiction |
| title_fullStr | The gender games: technology, ecology and gender in selected young adult dystopian fiction |
| title_full_unstemmed | The gender games: technology, ecology and gender in selected young adult dystopian fiction |
| title_short | The gender games: technology, ecology and gender in selected young adult dystopian fiction |
| title_sort | gender games technology ecology and gender in selected young adult dystopian fiction |
| topic | young adult dystopian fiction masculinity femininity technology ecology posthumanism Suzanne Collins Pierce Brown Scott Westerfeld Patrick Ness Lily Herne Edyth Bulbring Jenny Robson Lauren Beukes Lesley Beake |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/2263/110080 |