-
Period: to
Donna Haraway, A Cyborg Manifesto, and Todays Society
-
Who is Donna Haraway?
Donna Haraway was born September 6th, 1944. She is currently a professor at the University of California at Santa Cruz. Professor Haraway is most famously known for her 1985 essay, “A Cyborg Manifesto: Science, Technology, and Socialist-Feminism in the Late Twentieth Century.” -
A Cyborg Manifesto: Science, Technology, and Socialist-Feminism in the Late Twentieth Century
A Cyborg manifesto is an essay written to challenge the familiar ideas of feminism and how we as a species can transform our society by becoming cyborgs. The main concepts Haraway presents are -humans vs. animals vs. technology
-Redefining feminism
-Progressing into a “post gender world” of cyborgs free of race, religion, language and class -
A Cyborg Manifesto Explained
A Cyborg Manifesto explains how if we eliminate the concepts of patriarchy, capitalism, colonialism and exceptionalism and really consider ourselves - the human race as no longer superior to animals and technology, we could eliminate the divisive dichotomies that rule our society today. By introducing cyborgs into the picture, we present the idea of a united animal and technological front -free of traditional gender roles. -
A Cyborg Manifesto Explained (cont.)
Haraway explains that animals and technology have no preconceived ideas of religion, politics, race, social class or common human insecurities; the world would be free of all the crime, war, and prejudices in the world. In this Post-Gender world, (cyborgs have no gender) humanity no longer has to be classified by things in the “natural world”. Here is where Feminism comes to play. -
A Cyborg Manifesto (cont.2)
Traditional gender roles such as husband and wife and their attached concepts no longer exist. We can be whatever and whoever we want to be because the unchangeable natural world is no longer a barrier. This very radical and uncomfortable concept relates back to the philosophy of science in that it challenges our preconceived notions of evolution ( because we can have a direct effect on how we progress as a species as opposed to natural selection) and even theories of relativity. -
Helpful video expanding on the concept of Cyborg Feminism
Link text The video I linked is a lecture given by Dr. Glabau from NYU School of Engineering, she discussed many concepts that Professor Donna Haraway explains in her Cyborg Manifesto. I found it quite helpful in understanding further the ideas presented in the manifesto. -
MLA Citations
Donna J. Haraway, “A Cyborg Manifesto: Science, technology, and Socialist-Feminism in the Late Twentieth Century,” in Simians, Cyborgs, and Women: The Reinvention of Nature (New York: Routledge, 1991) This essay was originally published in 1985 and was later updated in 1991 Ebooks, Critical Theory. Who Is Donna Haraway ? criticaltheorylibrary.blogspot.com/2010/12/who-is-donna-haraway.html. “Haraway's Cyborg Manifesto.” Sunny Lemoine, web.stanford.edu/dept/HPS/critstudies/sunny.html.
