The end of the cyborg?

A review of A Cyborg Manifesto

Abstract

This work proposes to make a revision of Donna Haraway’s A Cyborg’s Manifesto, in relation to its major concerns and its validity. The Manifesto has been, by far, Haraway’s most influential text. What is the reason for this appeal, more than three decades after its original publication? To answer this question we propose: 1) To offer a brief history of the cyborg and its role in the Space Race, as well as the writing context of the Manifesto, the 80’s in the USA. 2) To analyze the contributions of the Manifesto and to present some of its less revisited sections, in particular, those in which Haraway rereads the history of American feminism and its obsession with identity, and those in which she makes analyses regarding changes in science, technology and the world of work. 3) To evaluate criticisms and receptions of the text, including those of Haraway herself over the years.