In a new book spanning continents and centuries, historian Surekha Davies examines how humans have defined themselves throughout history by creating monsters, from ancient mythology to modern artificial intelligence. Her research reveals patterns of exclusion that continue to shape contemporary debates about identity and belonging.
Davies will present “Humans: A Monstrous History” at Vroman’s Bookstore, located at 695 E. Colorado Blvd in Pasadena, on Friday, March 7, in conversation with historian Megan Kate Nelson.
“Monster-making isn’t simply othering or dehumanizing people,” Davies writes in responses to interview questions from Pasadena Now.
“Monster-making is a process of storytelling with the goal of arguing that certain categories are separate from one another by flagging up as monsters individuals whose existence reveals that these categories exist on a continuum.”
The book examines how societies throughout history have used monster narratives to police boundaries between races, genders and nations. Davies traces these patterns from antiquity to our current technological age, revealing unexpected connections between ancient myths and contemporary fears.
According to Davies, her book evolved from a more limited project.
“Initially, this book was called ‘Before Frankenstein’ — I was going to tell the story of monsters in the West from classical antiquity to 1800,” she explained. “But pretty soon I realized that the question of ‘why should we care?’ was best answered by continuing the story to the present.”
The award-winning historian structured her exploration thematically rather than chronologically.
“Perhaps it’s the Star Trek fan in me, but the structure that jumped out was one that proceeded, chapter by chapter, from earth to outer space,” Davies noted.
Her methodology combines analysis of diverse sources that scholars typically wouldn’t examine together. Nelson, who will interview Davies at the event, praised this interdisciplinary approach.
“She reads medical texts and episodes of Star Trek together and analyzes each of these sources with equal thoughtfulness and confidence,” said Nelson, a historian and writer based in Boston with degrees from Harvard and the University of Iowa. “One of her ideas that I think is important is that the process of monster creation was often spatial — that people see specific environments as spawning monsters.”
Nelson, a 2021 Pulitzer Prize finalist for “The Three-Cornered War” and the 2024-2025 Rogers Distinguished Fellow at the Huntington Library, sees direct parallels between historical monster-making and current political discourse.
“Just as officials in nineteenth-century Japan believed that people with atypical bodies were a threat to the body politic, the Trump Administration and MAGA are trying to make monsters out of trans people because they see their very existence as a threat to conservative power,” Nelson said.
Davies argues that technology is reshaping definitions of humanity in potentially dehumanizing ways.
“By deciding what technology is for, we’re defining what humans are,” she writes. “Creativity defines humanity. The idea that machines could or should write or make art diminishes the work of teachers and books.”
She specifically critiques generative AI, noting that “AI boosters earnestly insist that taking all the colors in the paintbox, mixing them together, and throwing them on a canvas creates art, not mud-colored dreck.”
The devaluation of human creativity, she argues, “monstrifies” our essential nature.
The book doesn’t just identify problems but suggests alternative perspectives. In one section, Davies discusses Lady Margaret Cavendish, a 17th-century aristocrat who wrote “The Blazing World,” a speculative fiction novel featuring human-animal hybrids in a utopian society.
Davies concludes with a vision she calls “monstrofuturism” — an approach that celebrates human diversity rather than stigmatizing it. “In the end, societies choose whether they become some version of The Muppet Show or The Matrix,” she writes.
“To celebrate the variety of humanity is to give ourselves permission to be our fullest selves, to attend to the basic needs we share with all human beings,” Davies explains. “For in a world where everyone is unique — a monster — no one is monstrous.” This approach, she suggests, could lead to a “Monstertopia” — a truly utopian future.
Nelson highlighted this hopeful message: “Perhaps, if people keep at it, they might find beauty in monstrosity,” she quoted from the book. “We do have the power to define the human in a way that does not create monsters, but embraces the diversity of bodies, souls, and life experiences.”
Davies’ 336-page book, published by University of California Press, was released in the United States on February 4, 2025, with a UK release following on March 4.
