Margaret Atwood’s 1985 novel The Handmaid’s Tale depicts a future where the US government has been overthrown by a militarized totalitarian theocracy and the fertility of women is treated as capital. Atwood’s novel is typical in that a white worldview masquerades as the universal human perspective. Calling attention to this aspect of Atwood’s narratives denaturalizes the way white racial experience remains unracialized. This project contemplates the absence of non-white characters in The Handmaid’s Tale. The treatment of women’s fertility as capital was a cornerstone of American slavery, resultantly, Black female experience. Hulu adapted the novel into a television series in 2017 with a multiracial cast. However, the diversity remained cosmetic. Atwood continued this dystopian storyline in her 2019 novel, The Testaments, including Hulu’s newly raced characters, with the same result. Analyzing the characterization of women in the franchise, I consider how the creation of dystopian/utopian worlds rely on the selectivity of racial representation to reinforce the white literary canon. My analysis contends that neither the Hulu adaptation’s multiracial casting, nor Atwood’s appropriation of racial diversity, displaces the white dystopia of her 1985 novel. “(White) Speculative Fiction'' will investigate the literary and cultural mechanisms by which whiteness persists as the dominant standard of aesthetic imagination. Examining The Handmaid’s Tale as a literary, televisual, and cultural spectacle argues that the structure of white futurism resists genuinely inclusive discourses.

Native Hawaiian ways of life significantly changed after the arrival of colonial powers in the 1800s. Specifically, Hawaiian poetry was significantly influenced by traditional English-literature forms of poetry and literature. Native Hawaiian poets and authors adopted and adapted their poetry, oli, and mele to take on forms of both pre-contact and English-literature traits. Authors like Haunani-Kay Trask and those who were at the Mauna Kea protests, such as Hina Wong- Kalu, used these adapted structures to tell their stories of how colonialism has changed the ways of Native Hawaiian identities and life itself.

Transracial adoption in the United States creates barriers to racial identity, and cultural development among transracial adoptees (TRA). These barriers are especially present In Black TRAs raised by White parents due to conflicting racial lenses and often lack of exposure to TRA's own racial and cultural background. Although transracial adoption is common in the United States, very few parents, social workers, therapists, or adoptees have information available to assist navigation of the complicated development of TRA identities. This book review aims to highlight the importance of supporting the development of racial and cultural identity among Black TRAs. This book review is on Transracial Adoption, Identity, and Racism in the United States by Kyrai E. Antares. Antares is a licensed psychologist, professor, anti-racism consultant, and white adoptive mother of two with a mixed-race child. The book features nine Black emerging adults and their experiences while being raised by white parents based on journal entries and interviews. Antares’ research supports the nine Black TRAs' experiences. Continually, the book guides parents and professionals to support black TRAs in racial and cultural development while providing a community for Black TRAs. This book review will also have an individual component as a black TRA myself. I will include my own experiences and connection with the book to support parents, professionals, and other TRAs that may want to utilize the review and drive home its potential real-world applications. The completed book review will be available by Late Summer 2023.