Breaking Away From Comformity

Ranaya B.
Reading Time: 2 minutes

Janelle Monáe’s Dirty Computer (2018) and Donna Haraway’s essay “A Cyborg Manifesto” (1985) share strikingly similar themes of identity, technology, and rebellion against societal norms. Both works explore the concept of fluidity in gender, race, and sexuality, rejecting the idea that these identities need to conform to rigid categories. In Dirty Computer, Monáe uses the metaphor of the “dirty computer” to represent marginalized people who, like Haraway’s cyborgs, transcend the limitations of traditional identities, challenging what it means to be human in a tech-driven world. With that being said, I will take apart Janelle Monae’s album and dissect some of her lyrics.

This image represent the two sides of a cyborg according to Harraway.

Monáe’s celebration of fluidity, especially in songs like “PYNK,” reflects Haraway’s vision of a post-gender world. Monáe reclaims symbols of femininity and embraces sexual empowerment, much like Haraway’s cyborg, who refuses to fit neatly into societal expectations. By singing “Pynk like the inside of your…baby,” Monáe is not just celebrating femininity but also challenging traditional gender roles, aligning with Haraway’s idea of breaking down binary distinctions. Both women were sort of rebellions in the sense that they do not let what society sees as “normal” determine their outlook on themselves. Instead of conforming they made it a point to stand out and embrace their uniqueness. 

This image represents Janelle Monae’s album cover for Dirty Computer. In the image you see Jane 57821 a bisexual party on the run. She represents the “Dirty Computer”.

Both Monáe and Haraway critique oppressive power structures. Monáe’s “Django Jane” asserts defiance against patriarchal and racist systems, paralleling Haraway’s cyborg rebellion. Monáe also clashes with the paradox of technology in Dirty Computer, recognizing it as both a tool for oppression and liberation. In songs like “We Appreciate Power,” she talks about how technology is used to control people, while simultaneously acknowledging its potential for self-expression and resistance, a theme central to Haraway’s manifesto. Ultimately, Dirty Computer embodies Haraway’s vision of a cyborg: a hybrid figure that resists traditional power structures and embraces fluid, diverse identities in a world dominated by technology. 

Fluidity and Resistance

Taylor L.
Reading Time: < 1 minute

Haraway’s essay “Cyborg Manifesto” introduces a vision of a post-gender world where identity is fluid. Fluid identity in the essay encourages the fluidity between gender and humans/machines. Similarly, Janelle Monáes’s album Dirty Computer discusses ideas of fluid identity. Monáe explores how fluidity across gender, race, and sexuality can be both a form of resistance as well as a target for oppression. Haraway’s essay is set in a post-human and post-gender society while Dirty Computer is set in a dystopian society where non-conforming individuals are oppressed. Specifically, gender and sexuality are highlighted throughout the album. While Haraway doesn’t pose those two concepts as central themes, they discuss cyborg resistance in which the oppressed groups must defy social norms to be liberated. Both works emphasize that liberation comes through challenging boundaries and societal norms. 

In her album Monáe created characters called “ dirty computers” that represent individuals who defy societal norms whether it be race,gender,or sexuality. These characters must resist their oppressor to keep their unique differences. In contrast, Haraway depicts a world where the boundaries of those intersectionalities are already being challenged.Both the album and the essay introduce visions of cyborg resistance that encourage identity fluidity.These multifaceted works illustrate how resistance is how you battle oppression. The marginalized groups would remain marginalized without resistance and would therefore perpetuate dystopian societies.Although these works have different settings and character types,they have overlapping themes.

Given that Monáe is an African American queer artist, this album is probably a representation of her story. Sexuality is and has always been a debate that puts non-conforming people in a group that subjects them to oppression. African Americans are also historically marginalized and oppressed. Monáe used this album to express her personal struggles in a way that includes African Americans and queer people in the cyberpunk genre.

Cyborgs, Dirty Computers, and the Power of Being Unapologetically Human

Jaylyn J.
Reading Time: 2 minutes

Donna Haraway’s Cyborg Manifesto from 1985 is a revolutionary critique of identityᅳa declaration that calls for us to reject the limiting binaries that have shaped gender, race, and power for far too long. ⁤⁤Haraway invites us to embrace our hybrid, fluid selves, unbound by the rigid categories that try to confine us. Fast-forward to 2018 and the album Dirty Computer by Janelle Monáe, which picks up this theme of defiance, mixing in futuristic visions with raw personal narratives that challenge conceptions of conformity. Both Haraway’s cyborg and Monáe’s “dirty computers” act as icons of resistance in worlds where non-conformity is viewed as one of the most dangerous yet powerful attributes. It is within Dirty Computer that I feel Monáe brings about a dystopian world which criminalizes identity, branding those who fall outside of the frameworks as “dirty” or broken. That is a fear similar to what Haraway attempts to overcome in her manifesto. For Haraway, the cyborg-a human-machine fusion-becomes a liberatory figure, one that denies male/female, human/machine, or natural/artificial. Characters in Monáe’s art also work with that very energy as cyborgs: the outcasts among those who would rather delete their queerness, their race, and their sexuality. On songs like “PYNK” and “Django Jane,” Monáe proudly harnessed in the power of beauty in one’s ability to disturb cultural order by claiming one’s spaces as fluid, not fixed.

For Dirty Computer, Janelle Monáe is celebrating queerness, blackness, and femininity as an act of resistance in concert with Haraway’s invitation for a critical disruption of the essentialist view of identity. “PYNK” becomes the love letter to womanhood in all its forms and the blurring between biology and culture that Haraway’s cyborg concedes no fixed notion of gender. But on “Screwed,” the explosive track, Monáe shows and criticizes the systems that try to control the bodies and identities, the sexiness now held captive by the rebellious energy of the cyborg as she reshapes sexuality into one more site of power.

According to Haraway, the cyborg is more than a metaphor borrowed from science fiction; it is a question about how we might reimagine our boundaries and not be afraid of the messiness of existence. And in Monáe’s “dirty computers,” there are similar acts of resistance against a dystopian force that seeks to rid them of what makes them different. In both worlds, liberation comes from impurity, from rejecting the fit of boxes, not from purity of observance to the rules, but from those very things that make us “messy”. Haraway’s cyborg and Monáe’s outcast characters both provide radical visions of a future where identity is singular and not given. Where we can be unapologetically, gloriously human or even more than human.

⁤Ultimately, Cyborg Manifesto and Dirty Computer converge on a shared idea: freedom is found in embracing the things that make us complex and contradictory. ⁤⁤Whether through cyborgs or dirty computers, both Haraway and Monáe challenge us to reject the binaries that divide us and instead celebrate the fluidity and multiplicity that make us who we are. ⁤

https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=11403a0c534b4088&sca_upv=1&sxsrf=ADLYWIKgQc6uQnjYInBXfGh2LEYLpDGc6Q:1727584404252&q=cyborgs&udm=2&fbs=AEQNm0Aa4sjWe7Rqy32pFwRj0UkWd8nbOJfsBGGB5IQQO6L3J_86uWOeqwdnV0yaSF-x2jrJh7Dt5wV71ckxEPe_0GQyc61_Jkg5ZI9z4zNW20fWd2tUn_HrTAULuFP7u75dytEkiWC15l7moHi_nYsx6bYU7gYxjHncfuRcjwgxByi-2dbm91Px5JKg1Jotj8vdUSEMemJ8XA6RB42LqHkYBEFrl5n20w&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiumfC1qeeIAxWtMlkFHSycCyIQtKgLegQIERAB&biw=714&bih=778&dpr=2

From Manifesto to Music

Jesslyn J.
Reading Time: 2 minutes

In Cyborg Manifesto, Haraway advocates for a post-gender world where rigid categories such as male/female, human/machine, and natural/artificial are disrupted. The cyborg, for Haraway, is not just a technological entity but a metaphor for the dissolution of binary boundaries. It represents the possibility of existing outside of traditional structures, particularly those imposed by gender, race, and species.

Monáe’s Dirty Computer echoes this notion of fluid identity, blending science fiction with themes of personal and collective liberation. The album’s protagonist, Jane 57821, lives in a dystopian world where individuals who do not conform to societal norms—whether related to gender, sexuality, or individuality—are “cleaned” or erased. Like Haraway’s cyborg, Monáe’s characters challenge these constraints by embracing their complexity. Songs such as PYNKcelebrate the fluidity of both gender and sexuality, rejecting the idea of binary categories, while Q.U.E.E.N. directly critiques societal pressures to conform, encouraging resistance to those expectations.

Through Dirty Computer, Monáe invokes a vision of identity that mirrors Haraway’s cyborg: one that is hybrid, undefined by rigid social structures, and capable of existing in multiple forms at once. Central to Haraway’s manifesto is the idea of resistance to systems of domination. The cyborg, as an entity that crosses borders between the natural and artificial, represents defiance against patriarchal, capitalist, and technocratic forces. For Haraway, the cyborg is a figure of radical resistance, existing outside the boundaries of human and machine, male and female.

Monáe’s Dirty Computer similarly centers on themes of defiance. Set in a dystopian society where non-conformists are punished, the album’s characters fight against a system that seeks to erase their uniqueness. Tracks like Django Jane serve as declarations of resistance, with Monáe asserting her power as a black, queer woman in a world that tries to contain and limit her. Much like Haraway’s cyborg, Monáe’s narrative resists societal categorization, instead celebrating the diversity of experiences and identities that do not fit within prescribed norms.

The characters in Dirty Computer embody Haraway’s ideal of the cyborg as a figure of rebellion, pushing back against the forces that seek to erase non-conforming identities. Both Haraway and Monáe celebrate this act of resistance as an essential element of liberation. Both Donna Haraway’s Cyborg Manifesto and Janelle Monáe’s Dirty Computer challenge traditional notions of identity and explore the relationship between the individual and systems of power. By embracing the concept of the cyborg, Haraway imagines a world where fixed categories no longer apply, allowing for greater fluidity and resistance to oppression. Monáe’s Dirty Computer brings these ideas to life through music, using the metaphor of the “dirty” computer to represent non-conforming individuals resisting societal control.

Without Borders or Boundaries

Elaina R.
Reading Time: 2 minutes

In Haraway’s “Cyborg Manifesto”, many of the concepts that are major issues and factors today are not as important and even transcended. When thinking about gender and biology, the idea of a cyborg goes past those forms and surpasses gender as a whole. Things like race and species become blurred and identity becomes a fluid concept. In that way, Haraway uses Cyborgization as a way to overlook these categories and to focus on technology and the changes that the world would experience rather than staying conformed to gender, sexuality, and etc.

In Monae’s album “Dirty Computer”, Monae also explores what Haraway does in her manifesto but in the way that those who do not conform to the norm are abnormal such as if a device was malfunctioning and needs to be corrected. Many of the songs on her album challenge the norms that we are stuck in due to things such as sexuality, gender expression and more not fitting within those context. It also focuses on identity and how complex one is rather than just being there biological gender and race but also the implications that that has within the system.

Overall, both works share a similar passion in the way that they both want to defy the standards set within the context that we are held in today. As a cyborg, things like gender and race are not the focus and there’s more than just what categories one fits in. Then also that being different that what is normal to people is not a crime and that expressing oneself and being different is okay rather than being seen as in the wrong. In both works, both Haraway and Monae envision a world where people can transcend being held back and to truly be free to be without borders and boundaries.

Haraway’s Cyborgs and Monáe’s Vision of Identity

Kennedi G.
Reading Time: 1 minute

In a world increasingly defined by rigid categories of identity, Janelle Monáe’s Dirty Computer emerges as a powerful critique of societal norms, echoing the revolutionary ideas presented in Donna Haraway’s Cyborg Manifesto. Written in 1985, Haraway’s essay envisions a post-gender future where identities are fluid and transcendent of traditional binaries. Monáe’s album, released in 2018, plunges into a dystopian landscape where individuals who defy normative identities face persecution, making her exploration of identity not only timely but also deeply resonant. By weaving together themes of technology, identity, and resistance, both Haraway and Monáe challenge us to rethink the boundaries that society imposes on who we can be.

Monae’s work reflects Haraway’s ideas, particularly in tracks like “PYNK,” where she celebrates fluidity and self-expression. The visuals and lyrics in this song emphasize a sense of freedom and solidarity among marginalized identities, paralleling Haraway’s vision of a future where hybrid identities can flourish outside societal constraints. As Haraway posits that cyborgs transcend traditional classifications, Monáe’s celebration of diverse sexualities and gender identities illustrates this transformative potential.

In “Django Jane,” Monáe further embodies Haraway’s call for coalition-building among marginalized groups. The song serves as an anthem of empowerment, pushing back against oppressive systems and advocating for the recognition of varied identities. Monáe’s portrayal of herself as both a cyborg and a political figure resonates with Haraway’s assertion that the cyborg is a means of resistance against fixed identity categories.

Ultimately, both Haraway and Monáe challenge the rigid structures that define identity. Monáe’s Dirty Computer not only echoes the themes of the Cyborg Manifesto but also emphasizes the ongoing relevance of Haraway’s ideas in contemporary discussions about identity and technology. This connection invites a critical reflection on how we navigate and embrace fluid identities in a world that often seeks to impose strict categorizations.

Blog Post #3: More Human Than Human

Khalil F.
Reading Time: 2 minutes

With Haraway’s “A Cyborg Manifesto”, she explored a world where there is a utopian idea that had no need for the labels that gender brought. It dreamed of a concept where cyborgs have no sexual development and don’t need to be organic have the specific identities that people face in real life. I think that the idea is really cool, the thought of no need for certain pressures for how to live and love people, and how to be a person based on what people thought of your own gender. In Janelle Monae’s album “Dirty Computer”, there is a very similar idea when it comes to the conflict. In “Dirty Computer” the idea of being a woman, being queer, being a minority, was seen as something bad, or “dirty”. The main character that was shown throughout the album that was supposed to be “cleaned” of all of those thoughts and ideas. I think that it is very similar to how “A Cyborg Manifesto” was about, but in the opposite sense.

In the film that goes with the album for “Dirty Computer” the android Jane 57821 is seen struggling with her own identity as the society she lives in tries to remove all her ideas of being queer.


While “A Cyborg Manifesto” has the idea of a perfect place that doesn’t have complex ideas on what it means to be a person, “Dirty Computer” punishes people for challenging those beliefs. It is seen as something bad to a lot of people in the real world just to be different, and Haraway thought to challenge those beliefs and the concept of what identity means. I think that Monae also has a similar thought, dreaming of a world where these things do not matter, and people are simply free to be who they are. In “So Afraid”, Monae sings about how she feels scared to even admit the feelings she has. Considering that it is fine for her to stay in her shell and not be proud of who she is. But these fears are presented as a normal thing. It is okay to be scared to challenge peoples beliefs, but as seen in “A Cyborg Manifesto”, it is not necessarily a bad thing. It can actually make everyone feel more comfortable, and not weighed down by certain labels.

Material Songstress

Josiah A.
Reading Time: 3 minutes

More Human than Human

I see a lot of what Harraway discusses in her Manifesto in ArchAndroid. If you scroll through the playlist and simply look at the names of the songs, some seem very esoteric and some make sense. In the Cyborg Manifesto Harraway wants us to think about Cyborgs in an ironic political sense while also keeping it faithful to feminism and post humanist ideology. When listening to the lyrics of the songs in ArchAndroid they are very centered around the “self”. Yourself and Myself, these individual churnings of thought, how everything in the world is so crazy, how dreams of things getting better stay forever, so many expressions of love, to need someone, to not need someone, to walk the thin rope of expression and thought, to speak up and speak out and the insanity that can potentially come with it. If we were to truly think of these in the way that Harraway intended, we’d be here for hours. which leads me to my next few points, I want to touch upon a few songs from the album itself.

Dance and Die is an interesting song, in Harraway’s Cyborg Manifesto she wants us to look at Cyborgs as ourselves or rather a way to view ourselves in a personal way. within this song many people are described. Those who are suicidal, those who cry for help or more accurately crying for someone to listen to help, “zombies’ with no thought, children that kill each other, some that go to join the army, men who want to be free, men who want a stronger nation. this song is filled with so much strife and yet the title gives you two options die or dance. To dance as I see it is to keep moving forward even when you wish for it to end. To Dance to your own rhythm and like the song says, whether you are a cyborg, Android, decoy or human, these dreams will persist. How fluid the “human” is, how fluid the very consciousness that such simple and seemingly hopeless things persistent no matter what you are.

I will not lie, I feel a lot of my peers if they did something similar would probably point to “Oh, Maker” and I think it is infinitely smarter to do so when talking about these songs and how they relate to Harraway’s Cyborg Manifesto, but I simply must talk about Sir Greendown. It is such an esoteric and dreamy song. when looking at the lyrics it practically makes no sense a song potentially full of metaphors and questions. who is ‘Sir Greendown’, where exactly is this taking place, what tower is she speaking off? When I mentioned the word “dreamy” I was not joking, the melody is meant to give off the sense that it is a dream, but I believe the more interesting thing to observe is the Song itself. I believe this relates to Harraway’s Manifesto because Harraway uses the Cyborg to breakdown the distinctions between physical and nonphysical and what is more nonphyscial than a dream? Here is a dreamlike expression of love an ask of the person to wake them up at night, to come to their tower and whosk them away. Instead of a land of Milk and Honey we have a town of Walking dolphins and Cyborgs who know exactly what to do. but what happens when we awake? will Sir Greendown be here at the tower to take us away to allow our love to be reciprocated? who knows, it is a nonphysical expression something outside of the normal something that anything could dream of.

Cyborgs to Dirty Computers: The Fluidity of Identity

Devin P.
Reading Time: 2 minutes

In 1985, Donna Haraway shook academia with her theory of identity as fluid, something that transcends rigid gender roles, in her work Cyborg Manifesto. Haraway envisioned a future where individuals are allowed to exist beyond the binary categories of the past—a future where boundaries between human and machine, male and female, have withered away into obscurity. Fast forward to the present, Janelle Monáe’s album Dirty Computer tackles similar themes. Through her work, she paints a dystopia where individuals are marginalized and persecuted for differing from the norm. Monáe brings Haraway’s future into the context of modern-day struggles, including gender, race, and self-expression.

In Dirty Computer, Monáe portrays a future where society controls and punishes those who don’t conform to traditional expectations. The record’s central metaphor, a “dirty computer,” refers to individuals whose identities, intentions, and deeds are perceived as “glitches” in an otherwise perfect system. This bolsters Haraway’s argument that human identity should be malleable and that prejudices related to race and gender should be dismantled. Songs that challenge the listener to reject cultural restrictions on identity and embrace personal freedom include “Make Me Feel,” an anthem of LGBT empowerment, and “Pynk,” which celebrates the complexity of womanhood.

Monáe’s depiction of nonconformity in Dirty Computer is akin to Haraway’s analysis of systems of oppression. In the same manner as Haraway criticizes capitalism, sexism, and established power structures in Cyborg Manifesto, Monáe’s record challenges the mechanisms that aim to regulate identity. She bravely asserts her right to exist on her own terms as she tackles the intersections of race, gender, and power in songs like “Django Jane” and “Screwed.” Like Haraway’s cyborg, who stands for resistance against institutions that push conformity, Monáe’s music stresses the strength of self-definition in a world that seeks to eradicate difference.

Through her work, Janelle Monáe re-envisions and modernizes Haraway’s ideas for a new generation. Her accentuation of fluid identity, her critique of oppressive systems, and her denial of societal norms result in a work that is a modern embodiment of the essence of the cyborg. Much like Haraway’s manifesto, Monáe’s album demands a future where identity has boundaries that have long since dissolved, and instead, are as fluid and dynamic as we choose.

Dirty Computer & Cyborg Manifesto

Mya J.
Reading Time: 2 minutes

Haraway’s “Cyborg Manifesto” and Janelle Monae’s Dirty Computer offer compelling explorations of identity, particularly in the context of fluidity and societal constraints. Haraway argues for a post-gender world, emphasizing that identities can be hybrid and multifaceted. In contrast, Dirty Computer portrays a dystopian society that punishes non-conformity, highlighting the struggles faced by individuals who defy rigid categories.

In “Django Jane,” Monae powerfully embodies Haraway’s vision of fluid identity. The lyrics emphasize self-empowerment and resistance against societal norms, with lines such as “I’m a black woman / I’m a cyborg,” reflecting the hybrid identity Haraway advocates. This celebration of intersectionality aligns with Haraway’s assertion that the cyborg represents a break from traditional identities, embracing complexity rather than binary thinking.

Furthermore, the theme of surveillance in Dirty Computer mirrors Haraway’s critique of how technology can oppress as well as liberate. The track “Crazy, Classic, Life” highlights the pressures to conform, with Monae singing about societal expectations that stifle individuality. The line “You’re a dirty computer / You’re not gonna make it” suggests that deviation from norms is viewed as a malfunction, resonating with Haraway’s notion that technology can enforce rigid identities.

Monae’s use of sci-fi imagery throughout the album reflects Haraway’s ideas about technology as a means of reimagining identity. In the song “Pynk,” Monae embraces queer love and femininity, with lyrics celebrating the beauty of non-conformity. The visual aesthetic of the accompanying music video, featuring vibrant colors and fluid movements, creates a space where traditional gender roles are dismantled, paralleling Haraway’s call for embracing multiplicity.

Additionally, the overarching narrative of Dirty Computer illustrates the consequences of societal repression. The concept of being “dirty” serves as a metaphor for those who exist outside conventional norms. Haraway writes about the potential for cyborgs to subvert dominant ideologies; similarly, Monae portrays the fight against a world that seeks to categorize and control. In “Americans,” she critiques the treatment of marginalized individuals, echoing Haraway’s emphasis on the importance of challenging societal norms.

In conclusion, both Haraway’s essay and Monae’s album invite us to reconsider our understanding of identity. Through specific songs and themes, Monae reflects Haraway’s vision of a fluid, post-gender reality while simultaneously warning of the dangers of a society that punishes difference. Together, they urge a reimagining of identity that embraces complexity, fluidity, and empowerment in the face of oppression.