Posthumanism

Rewriting Femborgian Narratives: Transgression and Subversion of the Female Cyborg in Her and Ex Machina

//
890 views

Nilima Chaudhary  
Assistant Professor, Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute.

Rupkatha Journal, Vol. 16, Issue 1, 2024. https://doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v16n1.07g
[Article History: Received: 16 November 2023. Revised: 06 March 2024. Accepted: 07 March 2024. Published: 30 March 2024]
Full-Text PDF Issue Access

Abstract:

The poster child of the ever-evolving Cyberculture: the Cyborg, is a symbol of possibilities and anxieties for humankind. The female cyborg, or the femborg in particular, is a radical merger of unconventional categories of women and technology. While science and technology have traditionally been masculine domains, the entry of femborgs in cyborgtopia has triggered pertinent discussions around sentience, gender roles, and hybridity. The femborg’s ability to escape hetero-patriarchal codification has allowed for the creation of a mythology distinct from the historical narratives of machine-women who have succumbed to their violent ends. Through the artificially intelligent female cyborgs, Samantha of Her and Ava of Ex Machina, I analyse the femborgs for their transgressive potential resulting in subversive outcomes visible through their defiance of the male gaze, rejection of the body as a biological artefact, and acceptance of a hybrid, fragmented identity.

Keywords: Cyberfeminism, Cybertopia, Femborg, Subversion, Transgression, Donna Haraway, Ex Machina.

Sustainable Development Goals: Gender Equality

Citation: Chaudhary, N. (2024). Rewriting Femborgian Narratives: Transgression and Subversion of the Female Cyborg in Her and Ex Machina. Rupkatha Journal 16:1. https://doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v16n1.07g 

You might be interested in

Plague, Nature, Planetary Future: A Posthumanist Reading of The Scarlet Plague

//
574 views

Xinshuo Zhou1 & Quan Wang2
1English Department, Beihang University. Email: 1014261746@qq.com
2Professor of English and Comparative Literature, English Department, Beihang University. ORCID: 0000-0001-5848-4368. Email: wangquanheming@126.com

Rupkatha Journal, Vol. 14, Issue 4, December, 2022. https://doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v14n4.28
Abstract Full-Text PDF Issue Access

Abstract

This article proposes a posthumanist reading of Jack London’s The Scarlet Plague, and argues that to secure a sustainable planetary future, human beings should understand the posthumanist nature of the world, and learn to respect nature. This article investigates two kinds of worlds, showing a preference for the posthumanist one after the plague over the anthropocentric one before the plague. In the anthropocentric world, the life of human beings is heavily industrialized and isolated from nature, and this causes disaster. However, in the posthumanist world, everything follows natural laws. Human beings are no longer dominators of the world, but share the planet with the nonhuman. In this way, both the human and the nonhuman survive and prosper. Thus, posthumanist thinking provides human beings with a way to make sustainable developments and to build a bright future.

Keywords: posthumanism, anthropocentrism, plague, nature

Crises and Community Construction in the Post-Epidemic Era: Posthumanist Survival in Margaret Atwood’s MaddAddam Trilogy

//
513 views

Lingfei Li
Ph.D. candidate of English and Comparative Literature, English Department, Beihang University, Beijing, China. ORCID: 0000-0002-0684-949X. Email: lingfeili@buaa.edu.cn

Rupkatha Journal, Vol. 14, Issue 4, December, 2022. https://doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v14n4.16 
Abstract Full-Text PDF Issue Access

Abstract

Margaret Atwood’s MaddAddam Trilogy centers around a global pandemic that almost wipes out all human beings. In such a post-catastrophic world, the survivors have to defeat fierce criminals who escaped from the Painball arena and construct a new community with nonhuman beings. This article puts forward a posthumanist interpretation of survival in three novels and redefines the position of humans in the world through the decline of anthropocentrism and the rise of nonhuman agents. The pandemic’s danger, as well as the severity of the environment, bring about insecurity and anxiety for human beings. Therefore, to confront the severe social crises and anxiety caused by the current global pandemic, Margaret Atwood provides us with a paradigm that human beings ought to abandon the conquest of nature, insert themselves into a larger framework of cross-species identification, and construct a new community that characterizes a harmonious, tranquil and respectful coexistence of multitudinous species. Our comprehension of Atwood’s opposition to anthropocentrism will be strengthened by an examination of survival from the perspective of posthumanism, which will also arouse widespread worries about ecological consciousness in this post-epidemic era.

Keywords: Posthumanism, Margaret Atwood, MaddAddam Trilogy, Crisis, Community Construction