Feminism, Feminists and Cyborg intersect (Question 3)

The only constant in life is change. Donna Haraway’s figure of the cyborg is no exception to constant change in a world where technological changes and developments are occurring everyday. Feminists have taken up the cyborg figure ambiguously. The cyborg, in this sense, has not taken on an ‘independent’ life of its own rather the cyborg has become a sphere of cyberfeminism. Overall, the linking of the cyborg to cyberfeminism suggests that within feminism the cyborg has not taken up ‘a life of its own’.
In order to investigate the ways in which feminists have taken up the cyborg figure, a definition of feminism was required. Norwegian Thomas Gramstad, in his article ‘What is Feminism?’ provided a succinct definition of feminism, defining it as both a ‘social movement’ and a ‘set of intellectual positions’ (Gramstad, 2000). Gramstad’s definition indicated the breadth and diversity of feminist ideology. The brief, concise article was first published during 2000 in the New Zealand paper Free Radical, which publishes articles on-line and in print. The credibility of Free Radical was endorsed by the editor’s public achievements and scholarly training pertaining to the field of journalism.
In light of Gramstad’s definition of feminism, sources indicated that the cyborg figure had been taken up by feminists in a number of ways (Gramstad, 2000). American feminist and university lecturer, Faith Wilding, exemplified this in ‘Where is Feminism in Cyberfeminism?’ analysing how feminism and cyberfeminism intersect (Wilding). Thus offering samples of various feminist perspectives on cyberfeminism and access to differing views, allowed insight into how feminists have taken up the figure of the cyborg. Consequently the cyborg figure has been turned into another division of feminism, namely cyberfeminism. The key point of Wilding’s analysis was how the cyborg and subsequent cyberfeminism suggested the potential to create ‘new images of women’ (Wilding). Wilding’s article was published online by a feminist website which did not list the publication date. However, the sources referred to in the article date no later than 1997 suggesting the article was published within the last ten years.
Wilding’s argument also highlighted a lack of collaboration between popular culture, science fiction and academic writing which implied that the cyborg figure has taken on multiple meanings. Consequently indicating how the cyborg has not taken up ‘a life of its own’ because it has been interpreted in several ways even within feminist writing.
According to Yousuf Dhamee, a lecturer at the National University of Singapore, the cyborg figure has become a feminist approach for strengthening female control over nature (Dhamee, 2005). Although Dhamee focused on the intersection of feminism and science fiction the article made a significant point, the cyborg acts ‘as a form of identity for women’ (Dhamee, 2005). Hence the cyborg figure has not taken on ‘a life of its own’ within feminism but for feminists. As within feminism, the cyborg figure has been categorised under cyberfeminism. In order to explore this possibility further more feminist sources needed consideration.
‘Cyborg body geocoded. world’ focused on the cyborg figure within the feminist geography of the digital age, specifically how the cyborg figure interacts with the digital landscape (Wilson). Matthew Wilson, a PhD candidate at the University of Washington published the article on-line post 2005 (no publication date was cited) with an extensive bibliography. The article was instrumental in highlighting how ambiguously the cyborg figure has been taken up by feminists.
Furthermore the article was published by a male, albeit another American, feminist making it an unusual contribution in a field typically dominated by women. There was an element of concern, however, since the article was published on Wilson’s personal website. Yet since Wilson has academic qualifications and wrote the article whilst undertaking a PhD it suggests that the article is at least written at an appropriate standard for research use at a university level.
In light of the feminist geographical discourse, a brief anthropological understanding of feminists and the cyborg needed to be considered in order to show just how diverse the cyborg figure has been taken up by feminists. ‘Cyborg Anthropolgy’ revealed that for feminists, the cyborg figure represented the potential to create new categories, which could overcome the bind of the ‘Western, middle classes’ where feminism has been rife and potentially applied to third world feminism (Dumit & Davis-Floyd, 2001, p.2-3). The article was co-authored by established academics, for instance, Joseph Dumit is an associate professor and Robbie Davis-Floyd a research fellow with the University of Texas Austin. The credibility of the authors reinforced the scholarly authority with which the article analyses the variety of ways feminism has taken up the cyborg figure. ‘Cyborg Anthropology’ was also fundamental in suggesting areas for further research.
The annotated sources indicated the breadth in which the cyborg figure has been taken up by feminists. Hence the cyborg figure has not taken up an independent ‘…life of its own’. The dominating theme of the sources, the diverse ways in which the cyborg figure has been taken up by feminists, highlighted how the cyborg has not taken up ‘a life of its own’. For the cyborg figure to have taken up ‘a life of its own’ a singular approach would be required. Instead the diversity of the sources reflected the ambiguity with which the cyborg figure has been taken up. On-line sources did however, offer access to materials which might not have otherwise been discovered.

References:

Dhamee, Yousuf (2005) ‘Cyborgs and Feminists.’ http://www.cyberartsweb.org/cpace/cyborg/ydcyborg.html
(Accessed 19 August 2008)

Dumit, Joseph & Davis-Floyd, Robbie (2001) ‘Cyborg Anthropology.’ http://www.davis-floyd.com/Articles/CyborgAnthropology.pdf
(Accessed 21 August 2008)

Gramstad, Thomas (2000) ‘What is Feminism?’ Free Radical 40, http://folk.uio.no/thomas/po/whatisfeminism.html (Accessed 18 August 2008)

Wilding, Faith (date not cited) ‘Where is Feminism in Cyberfeminism?’ http://www.obn.org/reading_room/writings/html/where.html
(Accessed 21 August 2008)

Wilson, Matthew W. (no date cited) ‘Cyborg body geocoded. world.’ http://students.washington.edu/mwarrenw/research_cyborg.html
(Accessed 25 August 2008)