Kindred

Use these activities to engage all types of learners, while requiring that they refer to and incorporate details from the text over the course of the activity. 

ACTIVITY 1: “What’s a genre, anyway?”

As a class, use a T Chart to compare the two genres that Kindred straddles—science fiction and historical fiction—and have students brainstorm what elements are necessary for each genre. Consider providing books from each genre for students to explore. Then, as a class, see which of those elements are present in Kindred, and think about how the novel sets out to subvert both genres by making a work of speculative history out of them. By the end of the activity, answer the following question: What purpose is achieved by mixing these genres together, especially when the subject matter is so harrowing?

Teaching Suggestion: The Postmodern Blending of History and Science Fiction might be difficult for some readers to grapple with, so breaking it down for them might help them see how the novel’s form helps to narrativize the trauma of slavery on our history and our present-day society. Getting them to arrive at a definition of each of these genres will give them a solid framework to analyze Kindred.