Disability, Technology, and Bodily Autonomy in Death of the Author

The Thematic Claim: Technology as Self-Determination, Not Cure

In Death of the Author, Nnedi Okorafor weaves disability, technology, and bodily autonomy into a single argument: assistive technology is not a cure or a costume but a tool for self-determination. The protagonist, Zelu, refuses to let her family, her culture, or the internet define what her paralyzed body can or should be. Instead, she claims authority over her own body by choosing—again and again—which technologies to adopt, when to adopt them, and what they mean to her. The novel extends this argument into its robot-framed narrative, where the android narrator Ankara also experiences bodily damage and repair, suggesting that the struggle for bodily autonomy is not uniquely human.

The Autonomous SUV: Independence Without Human Mediation

The first major test of Zelu's autonomy comes in Chapter 7, when she takes her first ride in a self-driving SUV. The chapter is titled