Awareness, Protest, and Action: Women Science-Fiction Writers as Writer Activists

Authors

• Carolyn Nolte, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow

First Advisor

Melissa Homestead

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

Department

English

Date of this Version

4-21-2026

Document Type

Dissertation

Citation

A dissertation presented to the faculty of the Graduate College at the University of Nebraska in partial fulfillment of requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy

Major: English

Under the supervision of Professor Melissa Homestead

Lincoln, Nebraska, May 2026

Comments

Copyright 2026, Carolyn Nolte. Used by permission

Abstract

Following the end of World War II, science-fiction literature, which was mostly dominated by white male writers, experienced an increase in stories written by women writers. Of these postwar stories written by women, the three women writers in this dissertation imagined how their present-day experiences informed the future by exploring their concerns about humanity’s collective trajectory. By analyzing how their stories dramatize possible future social, psychological, biological, and environmental harms, this dissertation argues that these women writers’ works distinguish them as writer-activists, a concept I borrow from Rob Nixon’s work Slow Violence and the Environmentalism of the Poor.

I begin with Judith Merril’s “That Only a Mother” and Shadow on the Hearth. Merril’s stories written from the unique perspectives of women protagonists envision women’s postwar experiences and concerns. Following Merril’s concerns, I explore how Ursula K. Le Guin’s novella, The Word for World Is Forest, illustrates a knowledge-system that supports and fosters cultural genocide and ecocide. I show how Le Guin’s novella contrasts two differing knowledge-systems to understand and protest against the knowledge-system that approves of unethical actions that harm Others and the environment. Continuing, I consider Octavia E. Butler’s Parable of the Sower. Butler’s novel demonstrates responses to climate crisis. By positioning Butler’s novel as a call to action, Parable of the Sower imagines a social and cultural system anchored in science and social and environmentally just actions. These three women science-fiction authors present different activist responses to potential social, psychological, biological, and environmental harms, including awareness, protestation, and action. The final chapter of my dissertation pivots from women science-fiction writers to argue for integrating science-fiction works into general-education literature curriculum in tandem with traditional literature taught at community colleges. I argue that science fiction has the potential to increase community-college student success through its ability to provide a bridge between familiar science-fiction constructs and traditional literature. Integrating science fiction into general-education literature courses supports community-college student-learning needs by building on what students already know. With its focus on science fiction, this dissertation aims to illustrate critical lenses that science fiction has to offer.

Recommended Citation

Nolte, Carolyn, "Awareness, Protest, and Action: Women Science-Fiction Writers as Writer Activists" (2026). Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–. 452.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissunl/452