Webliography

If popular culture has taken up the cyborg as a figure of progress, what happens to the way race is represented?

In researching this topic I found a wide range of material from various sources including -journal articles, a book review and an online article. In my definition of pop culture I include film, music and literature- all articles focus on either one of these or a combination of all. I have placed the material in order of usefulness using the criteria of firstly relevance to the topic, second credibility and lastly-interest value!

1.The Mulatto Cyborg: Imagining a Multiracial Future-LeiLani Nishime

Nishime’s article provides an analysis of cyborg cinema and investigates the way that the ‘mulatto cyborg’-where a cyborg is neither more so human nor machine but an equal combination of both-is a positive vision for a multiracial future. She argues that ‘If, the anxieties and fantasies of a culture are projected onto the image of the cyborg, then the cyborg must be read as a powerful metaphor for the historical bogeyman of contamination—racial mixing.’ Nashime uses examples of Hollywood cinema featuring cyborg characters and makes a division between those characters considered as ‘bad cyborgs,’ (Alien, Terminator) ‘good cyborgs’ (AI, Blade Runner) and ‘mulatto cyborgs’ (RoboCop) and the way in which the differences between the three categories provide contrasting examples that can be compared to representations of race. ‘If we read the cyborg as a parallel construction of mixed-race representations, then RoboCop offers a view of multiraciality that does not fall back on retrograde visions of biological racial differences…promising a future of mixed-race subjectivity.’

Written in 2005, I found this article particularly useful and relevant to the topic, and Nishime brings up some interesting points on the comparison between cyborgs as a representation for the future of people of mixed race. I trust her research as her role as an associate professor of American multicultural studies at a US university is credible, however in comparing to other articles I have found on this particular topic it was too specific to the theme of people of mixed race/ethnicity and it was beneficial to read further to gain some other insights into the future for specifically raced people as well as mixed.

2. Supa Dupa Fly: Black Women As Cyborgs in Hiphop Videos-Steven Shaviro

This article illustrates the way two black female hiphop artists- Missy Elliott and Lil' Kim, are embracing the figure of the cyborg to help them ‘tell stories of black female empowerment, in the face of deeply engrained racism and sexism.’ Unlike Nishimes vision of a multiracial cyborg it singles out black women and Shavrio has chosen two songs and their clips performed by black women hip hop artists who he says are ‘both concerned with the technological transformation of the black female body: its mutation into a cyborg.’ These videos are both ‘science fiction in form and in content’ and ‘they ask us to think about how we are being transformed, as a result of our encounters with the new digital and virtual technologies. Or better, they raise the question of who we are—as beings whose very embodiment is tied up with technological change, as well as with ascriptions of gender and race.’

I found this article very relevent to the question and a good contrast with the previous article by Nishime especially since Shaviro’s article was written at the same time also in 2005. Rather than suggesting the cyborg is capable of representing mixed race his detailed analysis compares black and white representations (he makes much reference to Madonna in comparison) and argues that these women are using the figure of the cyborg to empower themselves as being specifically black women.

3.Janelle Monáe: A New Pioneer of Afrofuturism-John Calvert.

In this article from The Quietus.com-a UK music review site- author John Calvert uses the example of singer Janelle Monáe also as a symbol of a black female cyborg. He argues that her style of ‘Afrofuturist’ music ‘brings to the fore perceptions that African-Americans have always symbolically been human and non-human: In the era of slavery, people of African descent were human enough to live and love and have culture, but were nonhuman to the extent that they were 'machines', labour for capitalism…By manipulating these symbolic references of past and future, a kind of third entity emerges…described as a cyborg identity,’ Calvert discusses Monáe's combination of historically 'non-black' genres of rock, electronic, cabaret and folk music allowing her to transcend ideological borders. He notes that ‘what strikes you most on (her new album) is her impossibly malleable voice which toggles though so many different tones…as to be almost machine-like; or, at least, non-human.’

This article is extremely up to date, it was posted just a week ago and to add to its currency includes a posting time. This is not a scholarly piece of writing and its credibility is questionable, however the themes the author brings up are still relevant and The Quietus.com makes a point of noting all of its publications are written by are some of the best music writers who also work for other well known newspapers/magazines. I found it a very useful insight into the development of a black cyborg figure and a perfect follow on piece to read after taking in the ideas from Shaviro’s research of black female musicians in ‘Supa Dupa Fly.’

4.Analogy and (White) Feminist Theory: Thinking Race and the Colour of the Cyborg Body-Malini Johar Schueller

Johar Schueller’s article provides readers with a detailed analysis on the topic of feminism as interpreted by different racial backgrounds. While her argument focuses on her belief that ‘while women of colour theorize about a particular group of women, many white feminists continue to theorize about gender/sexuality/women in general’. She makes some reference to Haraway’s Cyborg Manifesto and the possibility that ‘Cyborg identities, mediated through the politics of women of colour, help defuse—or…deny the responsibility of working with—whiteness and white feminist social location.’

This is a very long and detailed piece, and Johar Schueller takes a while to get to the point about Cyborg identities. I would not consider this article as specifically relevant as The Mulatto Cyborg or Supa Dupa Fly, however in researching for this topic it would provide valuable background knowledge on changing gender and race representations. As this is a scholarly piece of writing (published by the University of Chicago) I would consider this credible, however it could be useful to compare with other research.

5.Review: The Souls of Cyberfolk: Posthumanism as Vernacular Theory/ Thomas Foster-Mark Bould

Mark Bould provides a review on the book, ‘The Souls of Cyberfolk’ which explores the genre of ‘cyberpunk’ which appeared in the early 1980’s as a ‘shake up to the moribund genre of science fiction by making it more culturally relevant.’ He first provides readers with an overview of the issue of a world with increasing technological advancement and the way in which ‘Old hierarchies of class, race, gender and sexuality were (supposedly) being dissolved as commodities became the key to identity.’ He then summarises the key points of the book and considers the ways in which ‘the virtual offers the possibility of new identity-communities even as it undermines locale or ethnicity as sources of identity-community.’

Based on Bould’s interpretation of ‘The Souls of Cyberfolk’ it seems that reading this article would prove useful for research into the topic as it has provided other references to information and pointed me in the direction of Foster’s research, where I would now save time having read his review. As the book was written in 2005 like the majority of the other articles I have found it would be relevant to read and compare and also interesting as it is a reflection of the development of cyberpunk over a period of more than 20 years.