Becoming Cyborg, Becoming Myth: Embracing the Cultural

BECOMING CYBORG, BECOMING MYTH: EMBRACING THE CULTURAL IMAGINARY AS A CRITICAL SOCIAL AND POLITICAL TOOL by RACHEL NOELLE SIMONS (Under the Direction of Ronald Bogue) ABSTRACT This thesis examines the inherent link between the sociopolitics of “identity” construction and the realm of the “cultural imaginary,” as represented by “cultural” constructions such as myth and literature. This “link” is shown to be a paradoxical cycle of mutual validation in which myth is used as a vital tool in the construction of oppressive social hierarchies, while these same hierarchies decide the cultural definition of “myth.” Using a critical analysis of several books and films and supported by several key works of theory, the thesis then deconstructs the functioning of this cycle: the definition of a “dominant identity” requires clear borders between that identity and the “other” or “abject” of the social hierarchy, a definition necessarily found in cultural myth. Finally, the “hybrid” or “cyborg” myth is proposed as the only viable alternative for breaking this oppressive cycle of dualistic, “subject-abject” identity construction within contemporary society. INDEX WORDS: Identity construction, Identity border, Subject-abject, Dualisms, Cyborg, Android, Myth, Hybrid myth, Cyborg myth, Cultural imaginary, Dominant subject, Dominant identity, Oppressive hierarchy, Neoliberal, Feminist, Becoming, Abject identity, Abject-animal, Patriarchal, Rhizome, Social reality, Lived experience, Polylogue, Polyvocal, Maschinenmensch, Canon, National identity, Deterritorialization, Body without organs BECOMING CYBORG, BECOMING MYTH: EMBRACING THE CULTURAL IMAGINARY AS A CRITICAL SOCIAL AND POLITICAL TOOL by RACHEL NOELLE SIMONS A.B., The University of Georgia, 2006 A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of The University of Georgia in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree MASTER OF ARTS ATHENS, GEORGIA 2012 © 2012 Rachel Noelle Simons All Rights Reserved BECOMING CYBORG, BECOMING MYTH: EMBRACING THE CULTURAL IMAGINARY AS A CRITICAL SOCIAL AND POLITICAL TOOL by RACHEL NOELLE SIMONS Major Professor: Ronald Bogue Committee: Karim Traore Peter O'Neill Electronic Version Approved: Maureen Grasso Dean of the Graduate School The University of Georgia August 2012 iv DEDICATION To my father, Dr. Kent Simons: Thanks for sharing the finer things in life. This thesis wouldn't exist without Xena, Star Trek, My First Dictionary, and you. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I can never thank Dr. Ronald Bogue enough. Without his time, patience, and guidance, I never could have finished this thesis—or my degree. A huge thank you, as well, to Dr. Karim Traore and to Dr. Peter O'Neill for inspiring many of the ideas within this essay and for their help in seeing it through to the end. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .............................................................................................................v INTRODUCTION ...........................................................................................................................1 CHAPTER 1 “THE MYTHS I WANT TO BECOME”: CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN “NATIONAL IDENTITY” AND THE HYBRID MYTH ..........................................26 2 “THE HONOR OF THE SACRED SHEEP”: ILLUMINATING THE POWERFUL USE OF MYTH AS AN OPPRESSIVE TOOL THROUGH DANI KOUYATÉ'S REPRESENTATION OF PEOPLE AS ANIMALS IN SIA, THE DREAM OF THE PYTHON ......................................................................................................................67 3 ANDROID VS. CYBORG: THE MASCHINENMENSCH IN METROPOLIS...........88 4 A PACK OF CYBORGS: A THOUSAND PLATEAUS AND A CYBORG MANIFESTO AND I'M A CYBORG, BUT THAT'S OK AND US ............................101 5 THE WARRIOR CYBORG AND THE CANON: XENA: WARRIOR PRINCESS AS A TRANSNATIONAL CYBORG MYTH AND SOCIAL TOOL ...........................138 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................156 REFERENCES ............................................................................................................................159 1 INTRODUCTION BECOMING CYBORG, BECOMING MYTH: EMBRACING THE CULTURAL IMAGINARY AS A CRITICAL SOCIAL AND POLITICAL TOOL Liberation rests on the construction of the consciousness, the imaginative apprehension, of oppression, and so of possibility. (Haraway 149) How do we become cyborg? And how can we become myth? Perhaps these questions seem ironic. Well, that’s a good start: there is nothing more ironic than a cyborg. (If these questions seem moronic, then we’re probably in trouble.) Indeed, irony and a sense of humor are going to be quite valuable when we finally face the “social reality” that Certain dualisms have been persistent in Western traditions; they have all been systemic to the logics and practices of domination of women, people of colour, nature, workers, animals—in short, domination of all constituted as others, whose task is to mirror the self. (Haraway 177) It sounds like a bleak diagnosis, I know. Unfortunately, I have more bad news: our myths are lying to us. Or rather—they are keeping us from achieving a true “imaginative apprehension” of 2 our own oppression. The myths of our cultural imaginary tell us just what this mysterious “self” wants us to hear—no more and no less. And “who” is the self? Essentially, The self is the One who is not dominated, who knows that by service of the other. […] To be One is to be autonomous, to be powerful, to be God […] yet to be other is to be multiple, without clear boundary, frayed, insubstantial. (Haraway 177) So, in other words, it’s always good to be the God-King—but clearly, we can’t all be One. For the rest of us “others,” these dualisms of “service” don’t sound very healthy. Fortunately, I have a prescription for that. The purpose of this thesis is, ultimately, to create a movement towards “liberation.” However, in order to accomplish such a momentous momentum, I will first have to “construct a consciousness” (Haraway 149) that such a movement is even necessary. The oppressive nature of our contemporary social hierarchy should seem obvious, but the “unhealthy” lived experience of countless “abject” others proves otherwise. My analysis of the “cultural imaginary”—as observed from five different angles—actually shows that there are very real, very powerful forces at work which maintain these systems of domination within our daily lives—and even within our own imaginations. In order to effectively “cure” oppressive systemic dualisms, we must first learn to perceive these “imaginary” myths as tools. Then we must learn how to use them. Although many ideas clearly overlap between chapters, I would roughly divide the thesis into two distinct parts. The first section, chapters one (“The Myths I want to Become”) and two (“The Honor of the Sacred Sheep”), generally outlines the definition of a “hybrid myth” and explains why such a concept is necessary. The second section—chapters three (“Android vs. Cyborg”), four (“A Pack of Cyborgs”), and five (“The Warrior Cyborg and the Canon”)— 3 focuses on developing the potential use of a specific “type” of hybrid myth: the “cyborg myth.” Additionally, the overall flow of my discussion is to move from “diagnosis,” through “prognosis,” to a final specific “prescription.” While all of the chapters also individually move through this progression to some extent, these smaller cycles are meant to augment different facets of the greater movement. The first chapter therefore establishes the primary basis for this overall “diagnosis,” while simultaneously examining one example of a possible “cure.” In this chapter, I make extensive use of several other “social” theorists (including Gloria Anzaldúa, Leslie Bow, and David Leiwei Li, among others) and works of literary criticism in order to describe the contemporary situation of the “cultural imaginary” in some detail. After laying the groundwork for a more detailed analysis, I then focus on Japanese Canadian author Hiromi Goto’s 2001 novel The Kappa Child as an example of a work from the contemporary “cultural imaginary”—a work that may be considered a “hybrid myth.” During this analysis, Chapter One introduces most of the critical ideas—and most of the key terms—that will recur throughout the following chapters. My first task in this chapter is to examine and define the inherent link between the sociopolitics of “identity” construction (particularly at the “national” level) and the realm of the “cultural imaginary.” Essentially, the cultural imaginary consists of all constructions, such as myth and literature, that define the cultural “identity” of a society. David Leiwei Li identifies this realm of the imaginary as being a fundamental tool used in the construction of a “national identity.” “A nation,” Li describes, “is composed of both the institutional and the imaginary, the political that regulates the juridical and territorial boundaries, and the cultural that defines origins and continuities, affiliations and belongings” (7). These two elements—the “political” and the “cultural”—are therefore mutually and simultaneously engaged in the constant work of defining 4 and maintaining such boundaries and divisions of both the “nation” and the “national identity,” even as the reality of the “geographical” national makeup constantly shifts and alters. The two approaches cannot be separated either from the nation they define or from each other. I then argue that the “cultural imaginary,” as propagated through mainstream outlets

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