Cyborg Manifesto & Hypertext

Donna Haraway the author of "A Manifesto for Cyborgs: Science, Technology, and Socialist feminism in the 1980s" wrote a convoluted essay on modernism, nature, science, technology, and women. Haraway imagines a world without gender which is not something that people might want or could ever do. She discusses how modern technology can be genderless. Haraway’s' use of cyborgs is a typical postmodern strategy. For example, on page 66 of the manifesto Haraway discusses the point of the essay in this quote, "The essay is an argument for pleasure in the confusion of boundaries and for responsibility in their construction" even with this statement I still failed to completely understand the manifesto. It is difficult to understand what her point of view is. Personally, I had a hard time keeping up with the many topics she discussed and determining what her exact end point was. 


One of the hypertexts that really stood out to me was the Entre Ville by J. R. Carpenter. It was a very interactive collection of poems. My favorite visuals from the hypertext were of the garden. I found the videos of the flowers to be very relaxing. Another section of the poem that I enjoyed was the domes on top of the building. I liked that the poem was written on a lined piece of notebook paper and had different visuals. As I continued to learn more about the poems, I stumbled upon a hyperlink that opened my email ready to send the author a message which took me off guard. Earlier this week we looked at the Tokyo Garage poem generator which I also really liked. While it was a bit of a struggle to set it up once I was able to edit the code it went well! I’m glad we got to use the letter generator poem and Tokyo Garage to extend our knowledge on hypertext forms.



Comments

  1. Dr. MFebruary 20, 2023 at 8:26 AM

    "A cyborg is a cybernetic organism, a hybrid of machine and organism, a creature of social reality as well as a creature of fiction." Haraway's essay is challenging (and long), but it's mainly about boundaries, how we are already hybrids, a blend of nature and nurture, fiction and truth, human and technology. Although the essay was written in 1985, it is perhaps even more relevant with boundary blurring in today's culture. Our technology is far more a part of us than ever before and there is less significance placed on gender roles and/or binary genders. She brought up groundbreaking ideas of intersectionality that are becoming more and more understood all the time. It was a significant essay in feminist theory, not just the digital world.

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