Biopolitical Cyborgs in Post-1980 North American Critical Dystopias
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Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports 2017 Biopolitical Cyborgs in Post-1980 North American Critical Dystopias Valerie Ann Surrett Follow this and additional works at: https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/etd Recommended Citation Surrett, Valerie Ann, "Biopolitical Cyborgs in Post-1980 North American Critical Dystopias" (2017). Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports. 6747. https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/etd/6747 This Dissertation is protected by copyright and/or related rights. It has been brought to you by the The Research Repository @ WVU with permission from the rights-holder(s). You are free to use this Dissertation in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you must obtain permission from the rights-holder(s) directly, unless additional rights are indicated by a Creative Commons license in the record and/ or on the work itself. 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Biopolitical Cyborgs in Post-1980 North American Critical Dystopias Valerie Ann Surrett Dissertation submitted to the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences at West Virginia University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in English Kathleen Ryan, Ph.D., Chair Rosemary Hathaway, Ph.D. Gwen Bergner, Ph.D. Michael Germana, Ph.D. Lisa Yaszek, Ph.D. Department of English Morgantown, West Virginia 2017 Keywords: cyborgs, posthumanism, biopolitics, critical dystopias, reproductive medicine, genetic engineering, utopianism Copyright 2017 Valerie Ann Surrett ABSTRACT Biopolitical Cyborgs in Post-1980 North American Critical Dystopias Valerie Ann Surrett Stories of babies born from transplanted uteruses, fetuses created from three biological parents, a booming global surrogacy market, and embryonic gene selection have all made national headlines in the past two years. We live in an era of science fictional childbirths. Reproductive technologies that didn’t exist a decade ago are now peddled to whomever can afford them, and science fiction has responded. Post-1980 speculative fiction confronts a potent convergence of various sociopolitical and reproductive trends, including the rise of neoliberal conservatism; the “test tube baby” boom; polarized reproductive rights debates; and Diamond v. Chakrabarty (1980), the Supreme Court decision granting corporations the ability to patent genetically modified life forms. In North American dystopian fiction written after 1980, anxieties about technological reproduction manifest in metaphorical figures I term “biopolitical cyborgs.” Evocative of Aldous Huxley’s vision of a brave new world, biopolitical cyborgs are citizens whose hybrid features are designed to hinder political agency and personal autonomy. My project reads the biopolitical cyborg as a metaphor of the myriad ways life processes are governed in liberal democracies. I argue that these hybrid denizens of posthuman futures forecast the potential for powerful states and corporations to wield biomedical technologies in their favor, essentially creating citizens designed to comply with state agendas. However, the open and ambiguous endings characteristic of the critical-dystopian genre infuse these dystopian figures with eutopian glimmers, opening possibilities for biopolitical cyborgs to learn to use their hybridity to work towards a posthuman ironic liberation. Each chapter of my dissertation explores one of four manifestations of this complex figure. Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale , a dire account of an authoritarian state gaining control of women’s fertility, introduces the figure of Mother-soldiers . Mother-soldiers are female citizens who, locked in biopolitical wars, are transformed into soldiers and coerced to use their reproductive abilities in wars for the future of the nation. Soldier-cyborgs, such as the Community citizens in Lois Lowry’s The Giver , are genetically modified or artificially augmented humans. In essence, the state uses genetic modification to create perfect, subservient citizens . Bare-life-cyborgs , such as the New People of Paolo Bacigalupi’s The Windup Girl , are human/nonhuman hybrids whose transgenic DNA places them outside the protections of human rights laws. Bare-life-cyborgs forecast using the patenting of hybrid life forms to bypass constitutional protections, allowing corporations to legally create and sell a slave class within liberal democracies. Finally, I have termed future posthuman generations born to cyborgs as Lilith’s-children. Exemplified by the human/alien hybrids in Octavia Butler’s Xenogenesis trilogy, these novels feature a post-apocalyptic earth where only a modified human can survive. As posthumans, Lilith’s-children have the potential to move beyond dualistic gender, race, and class hierarchies. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS To Katy Ryan, my mentor, chair, and friend, who has gently guided me through so much more than this dissertation. Thank you for showing me so many ways to make my work matter. To Rosemary Hathaway, who, in addition to offering valuable feedback throughout this process, has graciously met me for countless coffees and lunches and allowed me to say all the things I’m not supposed to say out loud. Thank you. To Gwen Bergner, who pushes me to be a better writer, not just a better thinker. Thank you. And thank you for that one email about life during a dissertation fellowship that made me feel way less crazy and far from alone. To Michael Germana, who demands little, praises often, and has a knack for pointing out crucial moments I’ve overlooked. Thank you. To Lisa Yaszek, who generously agreed to take an active role in guiding a project for a woman she’s never met. I cannot thank you enough for lending me your expertise and for encouraging me, early on, that “there is no need to be afraid of theory—you can do a lot more damage to it than it can do to you. I promise!” To the men in the book club at FCI Hazelton, the men who have become my friends. Thank you for showing me the necessity of finding solutions. Thank you for changing how I think. You’ve impacted this project more than you know. Getting to know you has been one of the greatest honors of my life. To my mother and father-in-law, Mike and Caron, who check on me often and ask real, meaningful questions about my ideas and my work. Thank you for making my interests your interests. To my parents, Alan and Desiree. Thank you for your unwavering support. Thank you for telling me that you are proud of me and for expressing your full confidence that I could do this. And thank you for dropping everything to come to West Virginia to take care of your grandchildren during the final weeks of this process—for cooking real food with green stuff , for tackling our mountain of laundry, and for doing so much for me when I couldn’t do it all. To my husband, Derrick, my person. Thank you for your endless patience with and enthusiasm for this process. Thank you for moving to West Virginia with me without hesitation and without complaint. Thank you for working overtime to compensate for my TA stipend. Thank you for listening to three years worth of late-night jibber jabber about cyborgs, childbirth, and aliens. Thank you for knowing exactly what I need when I’m too tired to ask, whether its bringing home pizza and wine or texting video montages of animals sneezing. And thank you for your tireless, sincere belief in me. You are my constant. To my children, Liam and Norah, who were born during this process. You are my greatest sources of motivation and my biggest distractions. Thank you for forcing me to stop iv writing to go play outside, sing silly songs, or read Chugga Chugga Choo-choo . Thank you for keeping me grounded, for making me laugh, and for reminding me daily of the real-life stakes of eutopian dreams. This is for you. v Table of Contents Introduction 1 Biopolitical Cyborgs in Post-1980 North American Critical Dystopias Chapter 1 39 Four Figures of Biopolitical Cyborgs Chapter 2 61 Mother-Soldiers in Margaret Atwood’s 1985 The Handmaid’s Tale Chapter 3 96 Soldier-Cyborgs in Lois Lowry’s 1993 The Giver Chapter 4 134 Bare-life-cyborgs in Paolo Bacigalupi’s 2009 The Windup Girl Chapter 5 174 Lilith’s-Children in Octavia Butler’s 1987-89 Xenogenesis Trilogy Epilogue 219 This is Not a Conclusion Bibliography 230 1 Introduction Biopolitical Cyborgs in Post-1980 North American Critical Dystopias A few years ago, amid a cultural and political shift toward STEM disciplines in higher ed, a science vs. humanities themed internet meme made its rounds through social media newsfeeds. The meme’s top portion features an illustration of a middle-aged white man, donning dark-rimmed glasses and a white lab coat, throwing his hands in the air in celebration as he watches a giant egg beginning to hatch. The image is accompanied by the text, “Science can tell you how to clone a Tyrannosaurus Rex.” Below this scene is a second illustration depicting our pioneering, but fatally shortsighted scientist now fleeing his hungry progeny, captioned, “Humanities can tell you why this might be a bad idea.” The meme’s witty jibe differentiates between scientific progress and social progress by insinuating that academia’s bourgeoning STEM myopia could set society on a course towards self-destruction. Only the humanities can save science from itself by tempering technological advancements through considerations of the social, economic, and political imperatives driving their development. The meme’s bloodthirsty TRex, bent on devouring its maker, captures the essence of ethical debates surrounding the development of technologies capable of taking and creating life—just because you can doesn’t mean you should —while also linking the making of life to the taking of life in a circular, cause- and-effect loop.