Final

Literary Text and Films:
Battlestar Galactica

Almanac of the Dead, Leslie Marmon Silko

Articles:
"The Timelines of Almanac of the Dead, Or a Postmodern Rewriting of Radical Fiction" Caren Irr

Question:

How does race lead to guiltless destruction?

Thesis:

In both Battlestar Galatica and Almanac of the Dead, combatants use and need race to objectify the other as evil. In so doing, innocence and the individual are removed and replaced by historically charged racial classification. Thus, violent destruction of the other becomes guiltless and even, necessary.

Quotes:

“you said that humanity was a flawed creation. And that People still kill one another for pretty jealousy and greed. That humanity never asked itself why it deserved to survive. Maybe you don't’” (Resurrection Ship: Part 2 20m)

“So I want to talk a little about terrorism first. You spiritual bankrupts! You breeders of child molesters, rapists, and mass murderers! We are increasing quietly despite your bullets and germ warfare. You destroyers can’t figure out why you haven’t wiped us out in five hundred years of blasting, burning, and slaughter” (Silko 734).

“Indians however were the worst workers-slow, sloppy, and destructive of tools and machinery. Indians were a waste of time and money. No refugee camps for them-the best policy was quick annihilation on the spot” (Silko 495)