Hypertext 2- Julia Danielson

 Donna Haraway’s “Cyborg Manifesto” was a confusing but intriguing read. I managed to read the whole thing simply because I thought it would clear up my confusion- I don’t think it did. From my interpretation, her manifesto is about ecocriticism. She uses the image of the cyborg to create a connection between “imagination and material reality”. She urges readers to stretch boundaries and to fuse the dualistic notions of “mind and body, animal and machine, idealism and materialism”. She uses feminism examples and criticism of gender, sex, race, and class to help her argument of embracing the cyborg to form a “disassembled and reassembled, post-modern collective and personal self”. Her language is very rich and confused me a lot at times. I don’t think I really am entirely understanding her message, other than the message to stretch boundaries. However, I really liked the mixture of elit and feminism and hope to read more in this class!

‘My Body’ by Shelley Jackson was definitely my favorite read so far. The way the site is set up feels very fluid and is very easy to navigate. I love her usage of childhood anecdotes and connections to her sexuality, gender, ect. Specifically, I liked her ‘tail’ analogy and how it related to her suppressed sexuality. At first she doesn’t think anything of it until she matures and notices others don’t look or behave the same way she does. She learns to suppress it and hurt herself in ways to make it easier to hide. It takes a vulnerable moment for her tail to slip out, but is then confronted with affection. I really liked this piece of work. It felt very vulnerable to read, but makes it all the more powerful. 

Comments

  1. Dr. MFebruary 20, 2023 at 8:30 AM

    Haha I think the manifesto actually gets more confusing toward the end. But I'm glad you took it on! I'm glad you enjoyed My Body too, and found depth and vulnerability in the tail section. It is all so raw and honest and she is a beautiful writer.

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