(De)composing Transhumanisms: Fungal and Trans Ecologies in Jeff VanderMeer's <em>Annihilation</em>

<p>This thesis project analyzes the novel <em>Annihilation </em>(2014) by Jeff VanderMeer and situates the biologist’s transformation and transition in the book in a trans ecological framework. By expanding on foundational texts such as Jackson Jesse Nash’s “‘I Am Not Returning Home’: A Transgender Reading of Jeff VanderMeer’s <em>Annihilation</em>”, this paper argues that representations of fungus in <em>Annihilation</em> present a possibility for trans futurity rooted in transformation, ecological entanglement, and a rejection of binary thought.<em> </em>Additional articles from <em>Transgender Studies Quarterly</em> and <em>A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies</em> orient this fungal transformation in the larger framework of rejecting normative embodiment, understanding and embracing transhumanism, and moving towards mycelial convergence. I turn to new materialism, particularly theory built by Mel Y. Chen and Eva Hayward, in order to theorize a trans ecology that is agential and capacious, rather than merely existing in passive relation to the human. In the “Trans Ecologies” section of the paper, I refer to Chen’s <em>Animacies</em> to demonstrate how linguistic and cognitive shifts precede and create the conditions for physical transition, and how Area X is an active participant in this transformative process. By weaving together trans studies, new materialism, the fungal, and <em>Annihilation</em>, I reimagine Area X as a space for radical trans possibility, one where normative boundaries and obstacles are reconfigured and decomposed.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts (MA)

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

English

Year

2026

Author dc:creator

• Enriquez-Morales, Miles Nives Qapevewni

Contributors dc:contributor

• Renee Hudson
• Ian Barnard
• Joanna Levin

• Trans ecology
• Trans studies
• Annihilation
• Jeff VanderMeer
• Literature
• New materialism
• Arts and Humanities
• Modern Literature

Repository record dc:identifier

https://digitalcommons.chapman.edu/english_theses/90

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:digitalcommons.chapman.edu:english_theses-1095