Abortion, Violence, and Black Feminist Philosophy in Toni Morrison’s Paradise (1997)

• In Event: Bodily Archives of Violence and Volition

Abstract

This paper explores the reproductive imaginary of Toni Morrison’s 1997 novel, Paradise. Focusing on the little-discussed depiction of Black teenager Arnette Fleetwood’s self-induced abortion, I argue that Paradise offers provocative Black feminist insights into the racist history of US reproductive politics. Setting this abortion narrative in early 1970s rural Oklahoma, Morrison exposes the dangerous effects of the criminalization of abortion upon young Black women. Moreover, she pushes readers to reckon with the potential (and here, self-inflicted) violence of abortion while proposing that, as such, it remains a fundamental right of pregnant people.

Presenter

• Matilda Hemming, University of Pennsylvania