Science/Fiction: Imagineering Posthuman Bodies (2003) (original) (raw)

Figurations of Posthumanity in Contemporary Science/Fiction – all too human(ist)? (2005)

Revista canaria de estudios ingleses , 2005

Introducing the terms "science/fiction" and "imagineering", the essay aims to move beyond the "two cultures" divide and emphasises instead the interdependency between science and literature or, more specifically, between "real science" and "science fiction". It argues that technoscientific visions are indebted to narrative imaginings and that the promises of technoscience, in turn, influence individual and collective fantasies. The analytical focus is on imagineerings of the posthuman body or subject in various types of science/fiction. In order to challenge the orthodoxy of posthumanism's progressive trajectory, these figurations will be scrutinised in view of underlying liberal-humanist and, hence, androcentric, ethnocentric and anthropocentric assumptions.

Bodies of the Now: Feminist Values in Posthuman Times (Cecilia Asberg & Astrida Neimanis)

We are of a fast changing world, where bodies are not what they used to be. In this post-conventional dialogue, bodies of water will meet organs without bodies; Alzheimer’s bodies share a lab bench with terrorist bodies, while climate bodies stir the air, and alien bodies haunt our dreams. Old and new feminist takes on our posthuman condition will turn up familiar monsters, surprising affinities, and helpful hints for living up to the promise of bodies of the now. What bodily matter(s) accrue value, and why? What are we breaking down, and what are we building up again? www.visionsofthenow.com

Navigating the 'In-Between': The Posthuman, Metamorphosis and Hopeful 'Becomings'

2019

This dissertation uses the theories of posthumanism, cyborg feminism, Deleuzian concepts of the body and the monstrous. Through these ideas, I argue for a reconceptualisation of women’s bodies alongside technology. This reconceptualisation and reconfiguration opposes the boundaries and dualisms imposed on women’s bodies. I do this by mapping out the rational humanism associated with the Enlightenment. I argue for new lines of flight to be explored, while examining the potentially transgressive forms of bodily transformation and metamorphosis. This exploration includes the analysis of two opposing yet complementary case-studies: the avant-garde French performance artist ORLAN, and the cosmetic surgery reality television (CSRTV) show Botched. I explore their overlapping discourses of self-transformation and their respective disregard for the sacrosanctity of the ‘natural’ body and flesh. Where they differ, is in their modes of obtaining self-transformation, and the politics that underlie their intentions

Introduction: Posthumanist Gender Theory-A Very Rough Account

Genealogy & Critique, 2023

This paper cuts across current positions and developments within the frame of what can be called posthuman gender theory, thereby questioning humanist-epistemological categories that continue to shape Western societies and their systems of knowledge production. Posthuman gender theory inscribes itself into the discussion about a "conditio posthumana." Thereby, the traditional essentialism of a biologically based two-gender system is questioned anew. At the same time, the "humanistic" idea of the superiority of man (as a male subject of domination) gives way to a post-anthropocentric conception of reality, according to which binary hierarchical oppositions such as man/animal or man/machine dissolve. This collection among others comprises transdisciplinary examinations of novels, comics, and other cultural or social phenomena and aims to participate in the ongoing development of posthumanist thinking in relation to gender and queer theory formation. Genealogy+Critique is a peer-reviewed, open-access journal published by the Open Library of Humanities.

"THE BODY" IN POST- AND TRANSHUMANISM - Full Text

Published in: Ranisch, R. & Sorgner, S. L. (2014) Post- and Transhumanism: An Introduction. S.L. Peter Lang Publisher. Pages: 213-226 Abstract: The 21st Century has ushered in a redefinition of the body by cybernetic and biotechnological developments. The concept of “human” has been broadly challenged, while “posthuman” and “transhuman” have become terms of philosophical and scientific enquiry. Are these scenarios inducing a paradigm shift in the ontological and epistemological perception of the human body? If so, will gender, race, age and class among others, represent significant categories of reformulation? More radically, from a futuristic perspective: will posthumans need any embodiment at all? Posthumanism and Transhumanism offer different answers to these questions.