The Persistence of Complexity: Re-reading Donna Haraway's Cyborg Manifesto
Author(s): Matthew Gandy
Source: AA Files, No. 60 (2010), pp. 42-44
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The
Persistence
Re-reading
of
Donna
Haraway's
Matthew
Complexity
Cyborg
Manifesto
Gandy
A cyborgis a cybnerneticorganism,
a hybridofmachine and organism,
a creatureofsocial reality
as well as a creatureoffiction.
Donna Haraway1
'DrHaraway',
a police
forensic
scientist
inMamoru
intheShell
2:Innocence
Oshii's
Ghost
GKodansha/Dreamworks
This content downloaded from 130.156.76.100 on Fri, 12 Apr 2013 10:15:00 AM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
roleinthepublicarena,
canplaya didactic
notonlyexposedthe
manifesto
Thecyborg
andchairoftheHistory
DonnaHaraway,
irony
professor
forcreative
toscias a strategy
inrelation
offeminist
of limitations
attheUniversity
ofConsciousness
disruption.
Rorty,
byconthought
Programme
theprivate
resides
within
insists
thatirony
therole trast,
butevenquestioned
SantaCruz,isoneofthemostinfluen- enceandtechnology
California,
andhaslittle
basisforcollective
ofgender
as a coherent
ofthelastßoyears.
commentators
tialcultural
practical
politi- realmoftheimagination
toneof
of
Theplayful,
andattimeserotic,
herexploration
combined
from
hermany
utility.
primatol- calaction.Haraway
insights,
ranging
Among
contrast
a significant
as potentially
theroleoftechnologies
her'Cyborg
itisperhaps
essayalsomarks
liberating Haraway's
ogytoimmunology,
onsimilar
themes
withmoresoberwritings
witha widetohumanexperience
mostwidely
across dimensions
thathasresonated
Manifesto'
atthetime:the'replicative
collectivitiesappearing
ofassumedpolitical
cinemaand rangingcritique
ofdifferent
fields
a panoply
baroque'
including
isplayed
offagainstthelimitaormetaphysical ofcyborg
essentialist
andtheir
associated
culture.
sexuality
essayisoneof
Haraway's
cyborg
popular
ofexisting
tionsorrestrictions
fashion
Inprescient
both underpinnings.
a pieceofwriting
where
thoserareinstances
theory.9
Haraway
own
thatHaraway's
Itisironic,
ontwoaspectsoftechnological
focuses
andultimately
reflects
however,
changein
shapesthemomentum
ofsciencerested
inthehistory
research
of'electronics' doctoral
thedevelopment
herself
has
areaofthought.
ofa critical
first,
particular:
Haraway
ofnasa (ata timewhenmore
onthelargesse
forthe
of'circuitry'
within
thisemerging andthegrowing
becomea focusofintrigue
power
ofreor
andsecond,theimplica- exploratoryclearly
ofinformation;
evenadopted exchange
dramawithherpersona
intellectual
non-military
types
her
own
were
the
decisearch
tionsofgenetic
inthesequeltoMamoru
as ananimecharacter
development
yet
supported)
including
engineering,
to
wasnota direct
ofalllifeas 'code',sothattheproduction ofthecyborg
intheShell(1995),setinaneerie
Oshii'sGhost
response
concept
phering
of
Manfred
research
earlier
the
that
renders
a
new
oflifeenters
future
urbanlandscapepopulated
NASA-Supported
existing
phase
bya mixof
S Kline,
whoseworkshewas
andNathan
'Thereisnoth- E Clynes
obsolete.
relations
androids
andcyborgs.
humans,
largely
gender
In
of
until
after
her
not
aware
that
binds
"female"
about
of
five
thepublication
essaywaspublished.
naturally
being
yearsafter
ing
Writing
the
and
Kline
had
used
for
a
state
is
not
even
such
'There
she
had
notes
how
the
hermanifesto,
i960, example,
women', writes,
Clynes
Haraway
essay
enhanced
torefer
toa technologically
itself
a highly
as "being"
a 'surprising
halflife',
female,
cyborg
complex
category term
acquired
by1990already
of
comhuman
scientific
disin
sexual
constructed
contested
to
sothatithadbecomeeffectively
bodycapable spaceexploration,
impossible
6
fish
an
astronaut
with
an
other
'will
courses
and
writes
rewrite.
intelligent that
paring
practices'.
'Cyborg's
daughter', Haraway,
technical
in
had
the
take
centre
and
Science
startinanother
havetofinditsownmatrix
apparatus
acquired necessary
stage
technology
essay,
was
water
toland:thenasa cyborg
ofthehumansubjectas a tomovefrom
reassessment
thattheimmune
theproposition
system Haraway's
ingfrom
inhosin
for
readiness
a
human
in
of
modern
the
element
of
differchief
isthebiotechnical
bodyaugmented
fracturing
contributory
body's
system
marks
as wellas a potentially
consciousness
where
feminists
encesinlatecapitalism,
Haraway's
cyborg
liberating pitableenvironments.10
might
an
theoretical
an
ironic
extension
monsters
The
of
of
netset
extraterrestrial
the
findprovocative
unexpected
possibilities. technological
maps
- tothisearlier
'aeronautical'
arenotdetermined
works
ofembodied
phaseof
bysciprosthesis
powermarked
byrace,sexand thatstalkmodernity
- anymorethanthey
in
a
rudimenremained
rooted
that
canbeascribed
a
was
enceitself
themanifesto
class'.3In2010,25yearsafter
theory
cyborg
the
oftherelationship
between
oftheir
own- butaresimply tary
hashardly teleological
wefindthatitsimpact
first
conception
dynamic
published,
and
the
human
interests.
of
sense
of
the
initial
diminished.
society
technology.
body,
Echoing
essay's projections
Haraway's
thecyborg
isbotha material
ForHaraway,
innate
School- butshornoftheir
nowas ironic
understatement.Frankfurt
'halflife*
registers
which
and
a
artefact
reframes
the
was
version
ofHaraway's
Thefirst
powerful
metaphor
through
question
Haraway
essay
pessimism
cyborg
and
the
human
and
to
as
matter
of
of
a
in
in
October
and
corporeality,
technology
1984
explore
1983
interpretation
technology
published
completed
remains
closer
ofthecyborg
of
Herconcept
thepositive
control:
Its
democratic
intheWestBerlin-based
subject.
possibilities
journalArgument*
totheandrogynous
too
alsGöttin'
'LieberKyborg
('Rather
bodycollagesofthemodernist
title,
changearesimply
technological
enlightened
Cyborg
and
thanmany
ofthemorerecent
werisk avant-garde
andifwe'reambivalent
thefinalsentence
of greattobeignored,
thanGoddess')- takenfrom
- reveals
as
ofthecyborg
literal
ofthefuture. often
intheshaping
inten- beingmarginalised
theoriginal
figure
inscriptions
Haraway's
manuscript
thatwemight
ofthe'superhuman'
feature
ofHaraway's
tiontotakeissuewithessentialist,
essayisthe a symbol
anti-technolog- Adistinctive
inliterature
orcinema.Intheintroducinordertochalencounter
ofirony
offeminist
icalandanti-modern
strands
deployment
thought. extensive
ofessaysSimians,
forms
ofpolitical
andtheoretical tiontohercollection
inthecontext
ofa perceived lengevarious
Theessayemerged
Cyborgs
in1991,Haraway
elabois
andWomen
method
Inthissenseheranalytical
inthe1980sbetween
thegathering orthodoxy.
,published
disjuncture
ofthecyborg:
definition
intheplaceoftesttubeswehavesen- ratesonheroriginal
oftechnological
such herwriting;
momentum
changeinfields
Acyborg
isa hybrid
webecomeactiveparticiandas readers
robotics
andgenetic
as micro-circuitiy,
creature,
composed
oforganengineer- tences,
arecompounded
Butcyborgs
ismandmachine.
theoretical
andpolitical
of
pantsinherexperiment:
ing,andthelimited
andspecialkinds
thatdonotresolve specialkinds
isaboutcontradictions
offeminism.
recallsthatshe
oforganofmachines
Haraway
Irony
response
tothelatetwentieth
evendialectically
usedtheterm'cyborg'
attheinternaintolarger
hadfirst
wholes,
,abouttheten- ismsappropriate
century.
entities
World
Warhybrid
are
because
inCavtat,
intheformer sionofholding
conference
tionalsocialist
Cyborgs post-Second
incompatible
things
together
creatures
and
other
made
ourselves
is
humour
and
true.
about
where
she
also
met
one
of
the
both
are
editors
organic
of,
first,
necessary
Irony
Yugoslavia,
inourunchosen
and
inthe
andserious
ofArgument,
guiseas infor'hightechnological'
strategy
Frigga
Haug,a leadingfigure
play.Itisalsoa rhetorical
controlled
and
mation
honoured
one
I
would
like
to
see
Marxist
feminist
scene.Haug
a political
method
WestGerman
texts, economically
,
systems,
The
and
At
ironic
her
as
of
within
the
centre
her
to
a
systems.
labouring,
desiring, reproducing
ofmy
publish essay part
socialist-feminism.
encouraged
is
machines
in
second
essential
the
devoted
to
the
theme
is
the
of
the
issue
,myblasphemy, image
ingredientcyborgs
of cyborg.7
journal
faith
special
texts
and
or
intheir
Tosuggest
thatHaraway's
ofGeorge
Orwell's
1984.Itwasnotuntilthefollowguiseas communications
systems,
essayisliterary
.11
revised
and
elaborated
is
not
to
diminish
its
intellectual
an
that
designed
apparatuses
economically
self-acting,
extensively
experimental
ingyear
usthatthe
Thisexpanded
definition
reminds
'A
thattheunderseriousness
buttoemphasise
oftheessay,nowre-titled
version
English
situated
as well
idea
of
the
is
a
and
of
is
central
to
scientific
disforCyborgs:
Manifesto
Science,
cyborg historically
Technology
standing metaphors
The
aroundthesametimeas Haraway, as technically
inthe1980s',appearedinthe course.Writing
Socialist
Feminism
produced
phenomenon. spe- the
manifesto
ofHaraway's
the
cificcontext
Richard
hadmetwith thephilosopher
Butitspublication
Socialist
Review.
cyborg
Rorty
approaches
reachofthemilitary-industrial
ofirony
from
a similar
resistance
from
determined
complex
angle,defining extended
partsofthejournal's importance
in
the
of
and
the
associated
rise
of
neo-liberalism
it
as
'the
Where
editorial
collective
whoviewed
Haraway
power
redescription'.8
Haraway's
arguofthecyborg
from
isinhersensethat
thecentrality
differs
orworse'.5
mentsas 'reactionary
however,
1980s- reveals
Rorty,
AAFILES60
43
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All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
topolitical
contexts
inwhichknowledge
isactually
created.
Thecyborg
discourse.
alsodisplacesdichotomous
metaphor
Haraway
highfigure
theefforts
ofphilosoideasofnature
twopossibilities
fora 'cyborg
world':
a first Thesearguments
andculture
withgraduated
'fields
parallel
lights
basedona militaristic
andAndrew
Intandem
scenario
ofdestruc- pherssuchas RoyBhaskar
withlatemodernity,
orgy
Feenberg ofdifference'.19
todevelop
newkindsofinsights
thatcantake
forexample,
a 'joint
therelationship
between
nature
and
tion;anda second,emergingthrough
withanimalsandmachines'.12
inthebio-physi- humansocieties
isundergoing
LikeJG
accountofdevelopments
successive
reforkinship
greater
thewriting
ofHaraway
narrows
thehori- calsciencesandavoidthepitfalls
ofbothpositivist mulations
inarenasrangingfrom
theepidemiolBallard,
zonbetween
thereinterpretation
ofthepresent
andrelativist
modesofanalysis.
Bhaskar's
'critical ogyofdiseasetotheecological
of
restructuring
andthecreative
ofsciencefiction.
forexample,
mod- urbanspace.Whatconnects
thesedifferences
is
realism',
impulse
displacesmechanistic
forms
witha farmoreheterogeneous
and thepresence
ofnetworked
TheworkofHaraway
interactions
between
partofanemerg- elsofcausality
oftechnology
in
andnon-sentient
uncertain
elements
sothat
critique
landscapeinwhichtherelationships sentient
ingpost-Heideggerian
a bridge
aremadeexplicit.15 processes
cannotbereduced
the1980sthatprovided
between
Marxian between
scienceandpolitics
toa fewsimple
feminist
ofintersections
ofsci- Similarly,
butinvolve
a myriad
economy,
Haraway's
'standpoint
political
epistemology', mechanisms
epistemologies
such
as
different
enceandpost-structuralism.
influenced
feminist
across
scales.
seeks
to
by
philosophers
spatial
Haraway
operating
an'anti-science
a moresocially
Inthissense,thecyborg
seekstoestablish
manifesto
hasits
thatfails SandraHarding,
challenge
metaphysics'
of
toacknowledge
'howscienceandtechnology
human
own
the
intellectual
milieus
andpolitically
are
spatiality
grounded
understanding
spanning
means
for
of
of
human
The
idea
the
as
a
refusal
of
Santa
West
Berlin
and
the
Boston
as
Cruz,Cavtat,
satisfaction,
possible
great
cyborg
agency.16
ofcomplex
a
of
for
wellas a matrix
also
holds
editorial
collective
Socialist
Review.
The
dominations'.
Inthis epistemological
simplicity
degree
senseHaraway
allowstheideaoftechnology
withthe'quasi-objects' cyborg
sharesanaffinity
withrelated
as a
theoretical
commonality
concepts
meansforbodily
term
later
elaborated
Bruno
such
as
and'cyberliberation
toencom- ofMichelSerres
andcreative
(a
by
'cyberspace',
'cybernetics'
andthe'assemblages'
ofGillesDeleuze
useoftheterm
acrossa range Latour)
passa political
punk'yetthecontemporary
agendathatextends
from
offields,
feminism
materialist
is
different
from
toanti-racism,
thatwere andFélixGuattari,
these
virtual,
yetHaraway's
'cyborg'
analytical
orrejected
inthatitisgrounded
either
intheearlier
ColdWar
cannotbeeasilysubsumed
within
the
andfictional
constructs
in
ignored
cyborg
ofcyborg
versions
Italsosetsher
firmament
ofpost-structuralist
the
and
flesh
of
the
human
discourse.13
body.
living breathing
thought.
intellectual
atvariance
witheco-feminism Haraway's
insistence
ontheblurring
orevis- Whilst
the'cyber-'
tendstobeassociproject
metaphor
of'truth
andthewelter
innature'
discourses
that ceration
ofboundaries
introduces
a spatial
atedwithvarious
forms
ofvirtuality,
theideaof
havepermeated
environmental
dimension
to
discourse.
The
distinctions
the
is
linked
to
the
politics.
cyborgclosely
corporeal
expecyborg
as 'thestrug- between
forexample,
thecyborg
canbe
Haraway
depicts
cyborg
politics
'public'and'private',
begin rienceofspace.20
Consequently,
andthestruggle
'Ifitwereeverpossi- readas analternative
late
analytical
utility.
gleforlanguage
againstperfect tolosetheir
wayofconceptualising
sothat'cyborg
communication'
insiston
bleideologically
tocharacterise
women's
livesby modernity
thatserves
todestabilise
thepervasive
politics
noiseandadvocate
intheille- thedistinction
ofpublicandprivate
narratives
ofdematerialisation,
domains,'
pollution,
spatialmalleabilrejoicing
fusions
ofanimalandmachine',
'itisnowa totally
Morerecently,
the
however,
thereby shewrites,
gitimate
ideology, ityandvirtualisation.
misleading
a wholearray
ofdualisms
eventoshowhowbothterms
ofthesedichotomies underlying
ofthecyborg
challenging
running
materiality
metaphor
western
tradi- construct
andintheory'.1? hasacquiredheightened
nowthat
andpolitical
eachotherinpractice
through
philosophical
significance
tions.1*
The'noise'thatHaraway
refers
tocanbe
Heremphasis
onthecyborg
as a 'boundary
between
virtual
figure' theearlier
polarity
spaceand
as thedegree
towhichthefullcomrecasts
'meatspace'articulated
inthefirst
waveofcyber
interpreted
spaceandits'idealisedsociallocations'
ofsocialreality
exceedsthegraspofany
as a technological
andinstitutional
matrix
thatis
culture
islosingitsconceptual
andnow
plexity
utility
framework.
Butindeveloping bothmalleable
andopentonewforms
ofexperi- thatthevery
ideaof'virtual
isitself
singletheoretical
reality'
hercritique
ofuniversalist
modesofanalysis
enceorinterpretation.18
Acyborg
as itbecomeseither
relocated
inthe
interpretation imploding
doesnotadvocate
a form
ofrelativism: ofspaceisonethatrecognises
thefragility
ofrela- context
ofa heightened
ofthereal,
dimension
Haraway
sheiscareful
todifferentiate
between
theontolog- tionsbetween
thebodyandtechnology
orsimply
derided
bySlavojŽižek,
ranging as suggested
icalcharacteristics
ofmaterial
bodiesortechno- from
small-scale
medicalinterventions
tolarge- byElizabeth
Groszandothers
as aninherently
andthesocialandhistorical
scaleinfrastructure
networks.
formulation.21
oxymoronic
logicalartefacts
'ACyborg
1. Donna
Manifesto:
editorial
collective:
Sandra
The
Handbook
ACritical
Introduction
to
(ed),
Haraway,
Gray
Reality:
Jaspar,
Cyborg
andSocialistRe/Productions:
Science,
(London:
1995),
Technology
Contemporary
'Cyborg
Encountering (London:
Routledge,
pp29-33.
Philosophy
Feminism
inthelate
Twentieth
inWest
Theessay
wasoriginally
inthe
Berlin',
Verso,
1989).
Centuiy' DasArgument
paper
prepublished
inSimians,
andWomen:
The
sented
totheResearch
Conversations journal
Astronautics
inSeptember
,p170.
i960. 16.Donna
Cyborgs
Haraway,
opcit
Reinvention
Free
seminar
Bartlett
School
ofArchiSeealsoKlaus
(London:
series,
Bartels,
17.Ibid.
ofNature
Cyborgs,
Association
1use
Avatare:
Über
semiotische 18.Ibid.
Servonen,
Books,
tecture,
London,
1991),
p149.
University
College
this
version
ofthe
some
International
Flusser
Lecture 19.Ibid,
Prosthetik,
essay,
published
I9januaiy20i0.
p162.
sixyears
after
thefirst
asthe
communica- (Cologne:
Waither
20.SeeMatthew
version,
5. Donna
2005).
Haraway,
Gandy,
personal
König,
'Cyborg
definitive
text
for
Allpage
reftion
with
this
the
author
and
Urbanisation:
and
Simians,
(27September 11. Donna
essay.
Haraway,
Cyborgs
Complexity
erences
refer
tothis
For
version.
detail
onthe
inthe
2006).
Women,
Monstrosity
City',
greater
genealpl.
Contemporary
2. Acharacter
named
DrHaraway,
andimpact
ofthe'cyborg
manifesto'12.Donna
'ACyborg
and
Manifesto', International
Journal
ogy
Haraway,
ofUrban
apolice
forensic
seeZoéSofoulis,
Research
29(2005),
specialist,
appears
'Cyberquake:
Regional
P154.
pp26-49.
inthe
Ghost
inthe
Shell
2:Innocence
inDarren
21. SeeSlavoj
to
SeealsoNina
and
'From
Virtual
Manifesto',
Tofts, 13.Ibid
,p181.
žižek,
Haraway's
Reality
Lykke
Annemarie
inNeil
Oshii.
andAlessio
Rosi
Braidotti
Between
Virtualisation
ofReality',
Monsters, the
),directed
(2004
(eds),
Jonson
byMamoru
to'AManifesto Cavallaro
berculture: Goddesses
aDigital
World
andCyborgs:
Feminist
ConLeach
(eds),
3. Donna
(ed),
Haraway,
preface
Prefiguring
Су
Designingfor
for
An
Intellectual
and
ma:
with
Medicine
and
Science,
(Chichester:
Science,
2002),
Cyborgs:
History
Technology
(Cambridge,
frontations
Wiley-Academy,
mitPress,
Socialist
Feminism
inthe1980s',
in
ZedBooks,
andElizabeth
2002),
{London:
Grosz,
1996).
pp84-103.
Cyberspace
pp122-26
Linda
'ACyborg
Nicholson
6. Donna
SeealsoDonna
on
and
Architecture
the
Outside:
(ed),
Manifesto',
Haraway,
Haraway,
Essays
'Cyborgs
from
intheNew
Virtual
ma:
Feminism/Postmodernism
and
Real
(London:
Symbionts:
Pi55Living
Together
Space
(Cambridge,
World
inChris
mitPress,
Inthe
earlier
Hables
2001).
(ed),
1990),
7. Ibid,
Order',
Routledge,
p190.
P149.
Gray
phase
'Lieber
alsGöt- 8. Richard
and
The
Handbook
Routofthedigital
human
conrevolution
(London:
4. Donna
Haraway,
Rorty,
Contingency,
Irony
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body
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Reclaiming
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digital
AAFILES60
44
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