Critical Annotated Webliography : Qn. 3.

According to Katie Mondloch’s article, Reloading Cyberfeminism, “cyber” is a Greek term and originally means to steer or govern.[1] Norbert Wiener was the first person to characterize the term, “cybernetics”, which means scientific investigation on automatic control processes in biology, technical and social systems. In 1962, he had also used “cyborg” which was the combination of cybernetic organism to refer the lifestyle in which human being linked frequently to mechanical devices and had got involved into a vital world.[2] Donna Haraway then raised the ideas of “cyberfeminism” or “cyborg feminism” by her writing, A Cyborg Manifesto: Science, Technology and Socialist Feminism in the late Twentieth Century.[3] As she started from a socialist feminist’s point of view toward the rising of cyber related concepts. Judy Wajcman had made an argument about Haraway’s figure of “cyborg” developed a life of its own in different areas, and in this article, the ideal of “cyborg’s” life in the popular culture and academic writing will be discussed, as well as the basic concept of human nature and culture.

Firstly, the ideas from or linked with “cyborgs” transformed academic writing, especially for feminism scholars, in term of counting science and technology. There were two questions had always interested academic and activist feminists, that is, what we might mean to the term “objectivity”?[4] Also, how it could subversive feminists’ theories? If science means to know the world effectively by scientific practices, then it is a manufactured routine of knowledge in which the very objective power can be formed. Indeed, science is concerned as male-dominant, and women have always been excluded as others. Furthermore, there is evidence showing the existence of bias in the science from the old Feminists. For instance, many feminists had no interest on self-help practice, like repairing own cars or other machines, as they had the attitude that “they are just text, so let the boys have them back.”[5] This indicated that traditionally, most women assumed science-related tasks were belonged to men. Indeed, I have always behaved the same way as those old feminists, since I am usually out of motivation to follow the instruction booklets for any electronic devices, like computer and digital camera, so I simply give them to my brother or male friends to figure them out! Moreover, Haraway had claimed that feminist should find how to simultaneously on knowledge claims and knowing subjects, so that a critical practice for recognition of feminist own “semiotic technology” would be developed, and the nonsense scientific commitment becomes meaningful to women.[6]

Before going into the discussion of popular culture in related to “cyborg feminism”, it is necessary to understand that nature and culture are the basic elements of human being, and traditionally human tends to feminize the realm of nature, and masculinize the realm of culture. Therefore, women are identified as symbols of culture devalues and as the lower order of existence in most social practice. However, Haraway argued that nature is always acculturated or fictionalized, so there is no real nature, but the sense of nature that is accepted by majority of people in the society is actually informed by the naturalized culture through the processes of societies’ materials.[7]Within the context of science, culture has been separated from the nature by scientific investigation; and nature, on the other hand, has been redeveloped, and a range of possible materializations of nature has been built up. This is also known as the "myth of science"[8] and it means technology has taken places between human nature and materials in which the technology has become culture alone. This can also be called as the "nature-culture dichotomy"[9] and it allows interactions between the nature and culture.

Secondly, based on the changing of nature and culture relationship, popular culture in response to “cybory” is a critical factor. Science fiction, has become significantly famous within popular culture at contemporary time, can be seen as an important vehicle for transporting the myth of science. Star Trek’s film, First Contact, will be focused as the main example, to see how popular culture shifting the nature and culture figurations in concern of the hierarchies of gender. In First Contact, there were several issues can be raised for the discussion of transforming the human nature. One of the issues is about the human organic bodies had been combined with machines, and appeared in the form of “cyborgs”, like the Borg Queen, the main female character in the film, had shown a physically melded consciousness to the audience. Throughout all human history, there are always struggling of human race, such as continual fear and danger of violent death, indicate how fragile the human body is to be. Therefore, if the body can be transformed into mechanic with the control of technology, then we can overcome all the limitations of the organic body and no longer struggling on painful and disaster. However, the film also indicated the frightening of breaking the boundary of human nature, that is, the potential of “cyborgodness”[10] from which the human nature would mostly be destructed by technology, as the function of reproduction would probably not be organic based. As the Borg Queen had said, “I am the beginning, the end, the one who is many.”[11] The Borg Queen had then been labeled as a “she-devil” cyborg. Also, when compared to the other main character, Captain Picard, who contained the myth of masculine gods from the traditional cultural practice. It means male as the warrior leader and guide whose mission is to save the world. More importantly, the film arranged the Borg Queen as the leader of the central authority in the virtual world based on the story of the film, and it had then given the audience the freedom to illustrate women as the more empowerment in technological world, and this can also be recognized as the cinematic construction. Therefore, the myth of imagining a new social order had been created and it contrasted to most societies’ cultural practice of male as the base of the central power.

In conclusion, feminism takes on the account of the cyber world is identified, especially in the areas of academic writing in which many specific terms has been created in order to make sense with the combination of technology and human nature. Feminism ideas pushed the transformation of human nature and culture relationship, and with the effects of popular culture, particularly the science fiction, many science mythological ideas have been raised to and questioned the definitions of nature and culture of human race. I agree with Judy Wajcman’s argument on Donna Haraway’s figure of “cyborg”, and I believe that “cyborg” is not only living in the imagination of science fiction, but it has also influenced our lives in a very special way.





Reference
Balinisteanu, Tudor. (2007) ‘The Cyborg Goddess: Social Myths of Women as Goddesses of Technologized Otherworlds.’ Feminist Studies. (33), http://content.epnet.com/ContentServer.asp?T=P& P=AN& K=27452636& EbscoContent=dGJyMNXb4kSeqLU4v%2BvlOLCmrlCeprZSsq24SLaWxWXS& ContentCustomer=dGJyMPGpsU22rbdOuePfgeyx%2BEu3q64A& D=aph (accessed 24 August 2008).
Haraway, Donna. (1988) ‘Situated Knowledge’s: The Science Question in Feminism and the Privilege of Partial Perspective.’ Feminist Studies. (14), http://www.jstor.org/stable/3178066 (accessed 24 August 2008).
Mondloch, Katie. (2002) ‘Reloading Cyberfeminism’ Afterimage. (30), http://web.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.library.uwa.edu.au/ehost/detail?vid=1&hid=6&sid=d2d66dc0-26e9-4707-9632-422c1d678851%40SRCSM2&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=f5h&AN=7035867 (accessed 24 August 2008).
The Internet Movie Database (2005) Amazon.com. http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0117731/ (accessed 24 August 2008).
Wajcman, Judy. (2000) ‘Reflections on Gender and Technology Studies. In What State is the Art?’ Social Studies of Science. (30), http://www.jstor.org/stable/285810 (accessed 24 August 2008).
[1] Katie Mondloch, (2002) ‘Reloading Cyberfeminism’ Afterimage. (30), http://web.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.library.uwa.edu.au/ehost/detail?vid=1&hid=6&sid=d2d66dc0-26e9-4707-9632-422c1d678851%40SRCSM2&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=f5h&AN=7035867 (accessed 24 August 2008), p.19.

[2] Mondloch, 2002, p.19.
[3] Mondloch, 2002, p.19.
[4] Donna Haraway, (1988) ‘Situated Knowledges: The Science Question in Feminism and the Privilege of Partial Perspective.’ Feminist Studies. (14), http://www.jstor.org/stable/3178066 (accessed 24 August 2008), p. 575.
[5] Haraway, 1988, p.578.
[6] Haraway, 1988, p.579.
[7] Tudor Balinisteanu, (2007) ‘The Cyborg Goddess: Social Myths of Women as Goddesses of Technologized
Otherworlds.’ Feminist Studies. (33), http://content.epnet.com/ContentServer.asp?T=P& P=AN&
K=27452636& EbscoContent=dGJyMNXb4kSeqLU4v%2BvlOLCmrlCeprZSsq24SLaWxWXS&
ContentCustomer=dGJyMPGpsU22rbdOuePfgeyx%2BEu3q64A& D=aph (accessed 24 August 2008),
p.395.
[8] Balinisteanu, 2007.
[9] Balinisteanu, 2007.
[10] Balinisteanu, 2007.
[11] Balinisteanu, 2007.