Tag: BP03

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Donna Haraway’s A Cyborg Manifesto imagines a future where identity is no longer defined by categories like gender or race, allowing for a fluid self. In a similar way, Janelle Monáe’s album The ArchAndroid introduces the character of Cindi Mayweather, an android who defies societal expectations and fights for her right to be free. Both Haraway’s cyborg and Monáe’s android question the limits society places on individuals and push for a more inclusive vision of identity.

Haraway’s cyborg isn’t confined to the usual labels of human or machine, male or female. Instead, the cyborg represents the ability to exist beyond traditional categories. Monáe picks up this theme where her android character rebels against control and breaks out of the boxes society tries to put her in. In songs like “Cold War” and “Locked Inside,” Monáe explores the struggle against oppression, similar to Haraway’s cyborg vision of resisting systems of power. Both works ask important questions about how technology and society interact—sometimes limiting us, but also offering new ways to break free.

Monáe goes deeper by exploring the idea of what it means to be “real” or human. Cindi Mayweather’s story mirrors Haraway’s idea that identity can’t be fixed or easily defined. The android represents the freedom to be complex, shifting between different roles and identities, rather than being trapped in one version of the self. This connects to Haraway’s message that we should embrace hybrid identities and reject the pressure to fit into categories.

Both Haraway and Monáe challenge us to think beyond the boundaries that society sets for us. They remind us that identity is complex and that true freedom comes from embracing that complexity instead of conforming. Haraway and Monáe push us to imagine a future where we can exist as part human, part machine, part something entirely new.

Reading Time: 2 minutes

In Dirty Computer, Janelle Monáe constructs a dystopian world where individuals who defy societal norms are hunted down and “cleaned,” their non-conformity erased. This vision ties directly to Donna Haraway’s Cyborg Manifesto, where she imagines a future where identity is fluid, post-gender, and unfixed—a direct challenge to the rigid boundaries of race, gender, and sexuality that shape our current world. Monáe’s work taps into Haraway’s radical ideas by using the metaphor of the “dirty computer” as a stand-in for the marginalized body, one that doesn’t fit cleanly into pre-assigned boxes.

In songs like “PYNK” and “I Like That,” Monáe embraces this fluidity, celebrating identities that move beyond binary constraints. The body and the self are portrayed as ever-evolving, a concept that Haraway explores through her cyborg figure—neither fully human nor machine, embodying multiplicity. Both Monáe and Haraway reject the traditional idea of purity or fixed identity, instead advocating for a world where hybridity is a source of strength.

Monáe also shares Haraway’s critical lens on the systems of power that attempt to control and erase non-conforming bodies. Tracks like “Django Jane” and “Crazy, Classic, Life” serve as declarations of resistance, much like Haraway’s insistence that cyborgs are political, standing against the patriarchal structures that seek to categorize and dominate. Through Monáe’s music, the cyborg becomes an empowering figure—one that reclaims autonomy in a world that tries to deny it.

Dirty Computer doesn’t just depict a dystopia; it imagines a path forward, a post-gender future where non-conforming identities are celebrated rather than erased. Like Haraway’s Cyborg Manifesto, Monáe’s album pushes us to envision a world that transcends the rigid boundaries of race, gender, and sexuality, offering a new, fluid way of being.

To dive deeper into this connection, you might explore Haraway’s Cyborg Manifesto. For a visual supplement, check out Monáe’s Dirty Computer short film, which expands on the album’s themes of liberation and identity fluidity.

Reading Time: < 1 minute

Identity

Community

In Donna Haraway’s “Cyborg Manifesto” community was a big aspect in the book. Haraway talks about how building a community was important because it could be used to challenged power structures. The community becomes really important especially within the marginalized groups. Monáe’s album Dirty Compute talks about the important of community too. In the songs I Like That and Americans she talks about how communities should embrace unique identity. She also mentions in the songs that the community should fight against systemic oppression. In Monáe’s album Dirty Compute she talks more about celebrating and embracing the different communities.

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Image of cyborg in a ruffled pink apron in a kitchen. This image was generated with the help of Artifical Intelligence using NightCafe Creator.

By Kaitlyn Murray

In Cyborg Manifesto, Donna Haraway imagines cyborgs as an entity transcending traditional human, animal, and machine boundaries. The cyborg is not locked down to societial pressures of gender and race, yielding a fluid and flexible identity. In Dirty Computer, Janelle Monáe tells the story of Jane 57821 a “dirty computer” that struggles as she attempts to break free from societal norms and expectations.

In the song, “So Afraid,” a song on the Dirty Computer album, Monáe switches all the traditional roles of animal, male, female, and child. She begins the song by saying:

“all the kids run around

playing free and fun

While the dogs lap around the can

Falling down, climbing trees, swiming in the river”

Monáe gives imagery to this radical posthumanism idea, where the cyborg exists in this state of hybridity where the conventional boundaries of human and animal, nautral and artifical are challenged. She embraces the intersectionality of technology, human, and animal, giving way to this idea of the advancement of technology creating a space of liberty for new forms of existence that transcends society’s label. This aligns with Haraway’s cyborg—a symbol of fluidity and hybridity, where binaries and boundaries are dismantled to yield to expansive forms of being.

Monáe then says:

“Daughters sharpen their knives

and they hunt for food

Others watch their children grow”

Much like Haraway’s cyborg, Monáe’s characters use their non-conformity as a tool of liberation. She switches the gender roles as usually the man hunt for food and the women take care of the children. However, in this new world Monáe created, they are rejecting this patriarchal structure as they refuse to abide by the norms. Additionally, her word usage for those of a male gender as “other” illustrates Monáe’s characters reclaiming their own power and embracing their “dirtiness,” as percieved by those who give power to predetermined categories. This is similar to how Haraway’s cyborg challenges the systems that seek to control them.

In conclusion, Donna Haraway’s Cyborg Manifesto envisions a world where the rejection of binaries and the embracing of complexity can lead to a reconstruction of society’s systems. Janelle Monáe’s Dirty Computer deeply resonates with Haraway’s themes, particularly in the exploration of fluid identities and the resistance to oppressive societal norms. Both works challenge traditional notions of identity, embracing the power of non-conformity, and envision technology as both a site of control and a space for liberation. As robot useage increases, with MIT enginners replacing chefs with robots and house-cleaning-robots, the distinction between “men’s jobs” and “women’s jobs” begins to fade. In a world where machines hold no gender, could this spark a new wave of feminism and liberation for women? How might the future of gender roles shift as technology continues to reshape the workforce? In the future, could we see ourselves living out Haraway’s Cyborg Manifesto and witnessing the imagery Monáe evokes in “So Afraid”?

Works Cited:

Hitti, N. (2018, May 22). MIT engineers replace chefs with machines at “world’s first” robotic kitchen [Review of MIT engineers replace chefs with machines at “world’s first” robotic kitchen]. Dezeen.com; Dezeen. https://www.dezeen.com/2018/05/22/mit-engineers-replace-chefs-with-machines-in-worlds-first-robotic-kitchen/

Donna Haraway. (1985). 1985. Haraway, A Cyborg Manifesto. Science, Technology, And Socialist Feminism. In Internet Archive. https://archive.org/details/1985.-haraway-a-cyborg-manifesto.-science-technology-and-socialist-feminism

D’Souza, A. (2021, April 15). Cleaning Robots Helps in Cleaning the Floor and Lawn. KBV Research Blog; KBV Research. https://www.kbvresearch.com/blog/cleaning-robots-helps-cleaning-floor-and-lawn/

Janelle Monáe. (2018). So Afraid [Song]. On Dirty Computer. Atlantic Records.

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Reading Time: < 1 minute

Janelle Monae’s “Dirty Computer” album and Donna Haraway’s “A Cyborg Manifesto” both explore a fluidity of identity, critique of control, and resistance. Fluidity of identity is embraced in the album through the celebration of sexual and gender diversity, where traditional boundaries are blurred. Binary classification is rejected as love and attraction are explored across the broad spectrum of both sexuality and gender. In comparison, Haraway promotes a fluid understanding of self, specifically gender and sexuality. As far a critiquing control, both Haraway and Monae critique how society monitors and regulates identity, creating a struggle for autonomy. Lastly, there is the resistance against oppressive societal norms. “Dirty Computer” has a theme of rebellion and empowerment, challenging society exceptions. This theme is similar to Haraway’s call for liberation from traditional roles of gender and sexuality.

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.

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.

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. ⁤

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