I recently revisited Donna Haraway's "A Manifesto for Cyborgs" and found myself considering national identity as a component piece that transforms us into cyborgs, at least in the sense that Haraway explains cyborgs. The notion of "cyborg" put forth in this manifesto is that they are composite beings comprised of various, often oppositional (i.e. organic and mechanic), components, both tangible and conceptual. This means that anyone who is subject to some sort of mediation that directly affects their existence is a cyborg.
This construction of cyborg is used by Haraway as a means to the realization of a "powerful infidel heteroglossia". It is a strategy that empowers the marginalized and allows perpetual destruction and reconstruction of "identities, categories, relationships, spaces, stories". This cyborg will make the world more inhabitable for everyone and less comfortable for a few, those few who have had it too easy for too long. It is postmodernism (surprise! this was written in the 80's) manifest in real life.
With this understanding of cyborg it becomes possible to think of national identity or nationalism as a mediator that turns all of it's constituents into cyborgs. To illustrate this point I am going to consider China as a purveyor of national identity and thus a converter of citizens to cyborgs. I have chosen China mainly because of the distinct ideological difference that this country has from the dominant “western” world, communism, and how this ideology clearly mediates the existence of the citizens of China from that of westerners. I compare to the western world because I am part of that category so it shows my perspective of difference, and also because it is a rough equivalent to a hegemonic dominant party that governs the world (the few who have had it too easy for too long).
A prime example of this mediation is in the censorship of media within China. Internet access is limited, many t.v. shows and films are banned, or drastically altered so that they do not conflict with the dominant ideology in China, the news is filtered and controlled by the government, virtually all aspects of modern life that can be mediated by the government are.
As such, the experience of new technology, social networking on the internet for example, is experienced in different way from the western world. This means that everyone who is subject to this mediation, the purveyance of national identity or nationalism, has this ideology as a component of their being, they are cybernetic.
The important question to ask then is: how does their existence as cyborgs fit in with Haraway's hopes of a “powerful infidel heteroglossia”? The problem here is that the mediation is being forced upon the citizen cyborgs of China, that is, they are not choosing this component as part of their identities but it is being etched into them none the less. This is one aspect of this cyborg existence that Haraway does not seem to have considered. The closest she came would be talking about unconscious mediation, social conditioning that effectively does the same thing, but this is different in that you can chose to break with social norms, and thus shed this component, the cyborgs of China do not have this option.
There is still, however, a benefit to applying Haraway's cyborg to those who suffer from component requisition, that is their cyborg identities require this component because it is forced upon them and out of their control to choose. This application helps to identify the tools used by those “comfy few” to pollute our cyborg constructions. As I have mentioned, there are sociological constructs that function almost identically to the case of China. I say they can be escaped but this is only if you are willing to accept alienation as a piece of your cyborg self. This is unless, of course, we are all willing to make this shift, if not unanimously then at least as a majority, turning those comfy few with their component determinism into the alienated. This is how the Powerful Infidel Heteroglossia will succeed.
No comments:
Post a Comment