44 pages • 1-hour read
A Cyborg Manifesto
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Themes
The Rejection of Rigid Boundaries and Identities
Though many people tend to think of society as existing in dualities, like male versus female, or nature versus culture, Donna Haraway argues that this is not an accurate or helpful way of perceiving reality. This is a central theme in A Cyborg Manifesto, with Haraway advocating for the rejection of rigid boundaries and identities.
“Cyborg,” which gives the essay its title, is a metaphor Haraway uses to illustrate the potential disintegration of these dualities. A cyborg is a science fiction creature, or entity, that is a cross between human or animal and machine. Even though cyborgs typically exist within the realm of books and movies, they are just as relevant to society as they are to fiction. Haraway writes that “the boundary between science fiction and social reality is an optical illusion” (6), a view which sets the stage for the rest of her manifesto.
The cyborg itself embodies the supposed duality of organism versus machine. Haraway posits that, at the time she is writing in the mid-1980s, the boundary dividing human and machine has already been irreparably knocked down. With advancements in Western medicine like the pacemaker, many people are reliant on machine components to keep them alive. In every domain of life, as technology advances, the line dividing humans from machines becomes blurrier. Haraway writes, “Our machines are disturbingly lively, and we ourselves frighteningly inert” (11).
Another way of conceptualizing the same idea is by considering not the functions of humans and machines, but their compositions. Haraway observes that, “Our best machines are made of sunshine; they are […] nothing but signals” (13). Indeed, the important parts of advanced machines are the invisible codes and electromagnetic waves that command their physical existence. The same goes for humans. Imperceptible DNA sequences, waves, and chemicals all interact to control our physical bodies in ways that are not too different from the inner functioning of computers.
Accepting the erasure of the boundary between machine and organism implies the instability of the lines dividing natural and artificial, mind and body, and material and ideal. Haraway goes on to make separate arguments for the unities of other dualisms, like male and female, as well as human and animal. The idea is that virtually any boundary we can conceive of is socially constructed and self-imposed. These divisions are comfortable because we are accustomed to them, and the idea of breaking them down is frightening.
In Haraway’s view, however, the discomfort of doing this deconstruction work is worth it. She argues that, “The cyborg is our ontology; it gives us our politics” (7). The cyborg here can be understood as a metaphor for the hybridization of categories, while “ontology” refers to how we structure our own reality. Thus, for example, if society conceives of a reality in which men and women belong to two separate and essential classes, then all our beliefs will be structured around this idea.
Haraway is a socialist feminist, so one key takeaway of her manifesto is that the way we choose to structure gender contributes to the deepening divide and growing inequality between men and women. Accepting dualities as constructed rather than innate is the first step towards embracing fragmented “cyborg” identities within a society with ill-defined boundaries. Though challenging and uncomfortable, she argues that dismantling these borders is necessary to form new social structures that are more apt for the information age.
Feminism as an Intersectional Alliance
A Cyborg Manifesto rejects the previously widespread notion within some theories of feminism that all women are joined by a single essence that constitutes womanhood. Instead, Donna Haraway’s “cyborg” feminism proposes an intersectional view, wherein women choose camaraderie due to sharing similar experiences. She thus presents feminism as an intersectional alliance.
Haraway looks at this issue from a postmodernist standpoint, so she tends to reject ideas that have traditionally been assumed as facts. Feminists before Haraway’s time sometimes assumed that the single essence joining all women was the simple fact of being female. Haraway considers gender to be a social construct, and she therefore doesn’t accept “female” or “male” as legitimate ways of categorizing people. Instead, she sees gender as a harmful notion created by patriarchal institutions as a way to control and oppress women.
Haraway observes that feminists can’t seem to agree on “a single adjective” (16) to define themselves with. There are socialist feminists, radical feminists, and ecofeminists, to name a few. These identities are problematic because they don’t include all women. Women who don’t agree with particular political views are marginalized from feminist movements like these. As an alternative to forming feminist political identities, Haraway suggests forming political affinities instead.
Haraway cites the work of Chela Sandoval, who coined the term “oppositional consciousness.” Oppositional consciousness is the ability to decipher “webs of power” (17) and form political alliances with others in similar positions and with shared goals. Sandoval uses Black American women as an example. There is no one essential quality that binds all Black American women. Instead, these women simply find themselves excluded from traditional feminism as well as from political conversations about Black people. Sharing the same political space, Black women created their own coalition within which they gain support and power to resist exploitation and oppression.
Oppositional consciousness is a tool that aligns with intersectional feminism. Intersectional feminism acknowledges that different social categories, including race, gender, class, sexual orientation, and religion, overlap to create unique experiences of discrimination and privilege. Intersectionality affects everyone, as everyone identifies with multiple social categories. This is the key to the problem with traditional feminism: White American feminists (in Haraway’s view) act as though women are all in the same position and have the same goals, but they do not. White women are significantly more privileged than Black women in America, and so they have completely different social experiences.
Intersectionality applies outside of feminism, too—a gay white man, for example, has a vastly different social experience than a straight white man. This is why Haraway, and postmodernism in general, believes it is impossible to pin down a single essence to “being female,” or any other label for that matter. Searching for increasingly specific traits and identities will only marginalize people, in Haraway’s view. She thus argues that the best way forward is to bond and build unity over shared affinities, not identities.
Restructuring Social Relations in the Digital Age
In A Cyborg Manifesto, Donna Haraway argues that recent advancements in science and technology have fundamentally rewired how we relate to one another and organize labor. As a result, Haraway believes that we now have a responsibility to remap our politics, expectations, and communication, reflecting the importance of restructuring social relations in the digital age.
Haraway wrote this essay in the mid-1980s, when microelectronics and the internet were just on the verge of explosive popularity. These advancements, Haraway posits, are changing the world so radically—akin to the Industrial Revolution— that failing to completely adapt culture to these new technologies will be harmful, especially for women and other marginalized groups. Haraway calls the old way of thinking “the organics of domination,” and the new way “the informatics of domination.”
Her essay includes a chart showing how various aspects of the organics of domination will translate into the informatics. For example, “organism” becomes “biotic component,” “organic division of labor” becomes “cybernetics of labor,” “reproduction” becomes “replication,” and “mind” becomes “artificial intelligence” (29). Haraway points out that nothing she has categorized under the informatics of domination can be considered natural. In this new era, nothing is natural, and thus nothing has any innate essence. Haraway writes, “The entire universe of objects that can be known scientifically must be formulated as problems in communications engineering” (31).
This shift has far-reaching consequences in terms of how humans see the world. Previously, humans based their culture on a dualistic way of thinking. There were opposing categories, like men and women, organism and machine, and human and animal. Not only are these concepts no longer relevant because they are natural, but dualism no longer applies in a digital world characterized by plurality. Haraway argues that even though it’s challenging and even frightening to reconceptualize reality, it’s necessary work. Rejecting “male” and “female” as legitimate categories automatically dismantles patriarchy. Since there is no such thing as a natural essence, there is no basis for race, either. This leads to a more progressive politics in general, and particularly, an intersectional view of feminism.
The new age of technology also affects the division of labor. More importantly, it has vastly different effects on different people depending on personal circumstances. Partially due to the increasing capability of technology, more women are beginning to work while unemployment rises among men. Most jobs are now unskilled and exploitative, and people are “seen less as workers than as servants” (38). In Western nuclear families, many women must now manage their households and children without the support of a spouse’s income. This is of much higher concern for Black people, who tend to be restricted to lower-paying jobs and are more likely to be unemployed. The production of electronics in underdeveloped countries creates more jobs for women and teenage girls, who often provide the only source of income for their families. The burden of responsibility on women is therefore now much higher.
Haraway’s overall point is that humans must evolve to adapt to a society based in cybernetics, information, and technology, in which dualistic and essentialist thinking is irrational and harmful, and considering nuance is critical. She believes that restructuring social relations could lead to a more equitable society for everyone.
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