Parable of the Sower Background

Afrofuturism

Before scholar Mark Dery (1959–) coined the term “Afrofuturism” in a 1993 essay, Octavia Butler was writing her way into a landmark role in the movement. Afrofuturism is more than just a literary genre; it’s an interdisciplinary mode of cultural production that includes everything from fashion to architecture to music. Dery defines Afrofuturism as science fiction that weaves African American issues, themes and history with the potentialities of technology to explore alternative realities. These works often show a future where racial diversity is both common and vital. In Afrofuturist fiction, Black characters are empowered to create their own worlds, moving beyond a past marked by discrimination. Butler wanted Black protagonists to be compelling and complex; their racial backgrounds aren’t just plot devices but critical aspects of their character.

Afrofuturist literature challenges established power structures and envisions new ones. Common themes include tyranny, resistance and liberation. Characters face complex systems of oppression that are already familiar to readers, including race, gender and class inequality. Often, they’ll question these systems and imagine a new way forward in which Black people can determine their futures. Archivist Dalena Hunter says Afrofuturist literature “challenge[s] what it means for black people to be free on our own terms.” And Butler, in her 1989 essay “Positive Obsession,” describes science fiction as a tool for thinking about “social organization and political direction” as well as technology.

Parable of the Sower features multiracial families and communities in Southern California. Narrator Lauren Olamina observes how people and groups are treated differently because of race. Lauren is critical of the hierarchies that shape her world, from the rise of ultra-wealthy, distant corporations to class inequalities in her neighborhood. In the Afrofuturist tradition, she works toward her liberation by founding her own faith and building a new community.

Political and Social Turmoil of the 1990s

Despite being science fiction, Butler’s works are grounded in a realistic understanding of the past and present. Parable of the Sower came out in 1993. The early 1990s were marked by poverty, anxiety and violence. A market crash in the late 80s kicked off the 90s with a recession that hit Black communities the hardest and lasted longer. Drug addictions ran rampant with cocaine-related deaths on the rise. The war on drugs, a government-led response to illegal drug use, disproportionately criminalized crack cocaine, common in inner-city neighborhoods. The initiative led to the disproportionate incarceration of Black drug users and to prohibition-related violence. Racial tensions overflowed in Los Angeles, California, after white police officers were acquitted for severely beating a Black driver in 1992, and riots shook the city for days. Meanwhile, increasing global trade led to the formation of huge “corporate empires,” making businesses more powerful than ever.

Parable of the Sower’s characters endure the consequences of similar events in the mid-2020s. Addicts to a new drug called “pyro” roam the streets of greater Los Angeles, a setting overwhelmed by riots as impoverished communities steal from one another. Lauren Olamina suffers from hyperempathy, a condition caused by her birth mother’s prescription drug abuse. Corporations have bought entire towns, and a corporate job is one of the only remaining routes to financial stability.

Global warming causes an even greater threat to survival in Butler’s novel. By the 1990s, scientists were warning the public about rising global temperatures, chemically polluted water supplies, and diminishing natural resources. Environmental disaster seemed too close for comfort. This disaster hits closer to home for characters in Parable of the Sower, where food and water are scarce, and families grow produce to survive. To Butler, this bleak future looked familiar but not inevitable. She hoped Parable of the Sower and its sequel, Parable of the Talents, would serve as cautionary tales and inspire positive change.