scholarly journals Death, Innocence, and the Cyborg: Theorizing the Gynoid Double-Bind in Mamoru Oshii’s Ghost in the Shell II: Innocence

2017 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 103-125
Author(s):  
Kwasu D. Tembo
Keyword(s):  
Science Fiction ◽  
Western Society ◽  
Double Bind ◽  
Close Reading ◽  
Framework Analysis ◽  
Contemporary Science ◽  
Patriarchal Power ◽  
Century Science ◽  
Contemporary Western Society

Abstract In Donna Haraway’s “A Cyborg Manifesto” (1983), the author presents a discussion of the concept and praxis of the cyborg in emancipatory terms. Haraway presents the cyborg as a transgressive and latently mercurial figure that decouples and contravenes numerous exploitative ideological frameworks of repressive biopower that repress human being and reproduce the conditions of said repression. Using Mamoru Oshii’s Ghost in the Shell II: Innocence (2004) as a dialogic case study, this essay explores the manner in which the cyborg, particularly its figuration as female-gendered anthropic machine or gynoid in 20th- and 21st-century science fiction, simultaneously confirms and contradicts Haraway’s assessment of the concept of the cyborg. As to its methodology, this essay opens with a contextualizing excursus on the cyber-being in contemporary Western society and sociopolitics, with a view to offering a framework analysis of the figuration of the gynoid in Oshii’s Ghost in the Shell II: Innocence as a recent example of contemporary science fiction’s representation of the issues and debates inherent to the concept of the gynoid. Lastly, this essay performs a detailed close reading of Oshii’s text in relation to its exploration of themes of the conceptual emancipatory potential of the cyber-being and the paradoxically exploitative patriarchal power relations that re-inscribe said potential within what this essay refers to as ‘the gynoid double-bind.’

Critique of Flowers: The Exigency of Life in the Era of Its Technical Reproducibility

October ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 26-69
Author(s):  
Cassandra Xin Guan
Keyword(s):  
Sigmund Freud ◽  
Physical Environment ◽  
Time Lapse ◽  
Emotional Reactions ◽  
Close Reading ◽  
Technical Reproducibility ◽  
Responsive Behavior ◽  
Selling Point ◽  
Century Science

Abstract Need, as an epigenetic concept, originated with Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, for whom it referred to the pressure of circumstances that compel animals to develop new organs in the course of evolution. It reappeared in twentieth-century science as the somatic disequilibrium that Sigmund Freud, following Psycho-Lamarckian biologists, first called “the need of life” (die Not des Lebens) and then “the drives” (Trieb). The invention of time-lapse cinematography around 1900, initially as an optical instrument in the experimental study of plant physiology, visibly enlarged the epigenetic paradigm: Plants were suddenly perceived as agential beings, attached to the physical environment not by their roots, but rather by their needs and activities. The disquieting impression of responsive behavior became the selling point of the BASF-commissioned nitrogen-fertilizer commercial Miracle of Flowers (1926), a film celebrated by Rudolf Arnheim as “the most fantastic, thrilling, and beautiful picture ever made.” This article interrogates the sovereignty of need in epigenesis, using Miracle of Flowers as a case study. Through a close reading of the animal-like organisms in this film and the emotional reactions they elicited, need is reimagined as a maladaptive force embodied in technical media that tethers unhappy individuals to punishing environments.

Science Fiction and Administrative Truths: The Short Story and Novella as Administrative Cases

Public Voices ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 61
Author(s):  
Nolan J. Argyle ◽  
Lee M. Allen
Keyword(s):  
Science Fiction ◽  
Public Administration ◽  
Short Story ◽  
Interesting Case ◽  
Organizational Complexity ◽  
Professional Career ◽  
Playing Field ◽  
Advantages And Disadvantages ◽  
Hands On

Pre-service and in-service MPA students share a common desire for hands-on, real world instruction related to their professional career goals, leading to a pedagogic discounting of fiction as an appropriate tool for analyzing and "solving" problems. However, several factors weigh heavily in favor of using science fiction short stories and novellas in the MPA classroom setting. These include the need for interesting case scenarios exploring various administrative issues; leveling the playing field between the two types of students by de-emphasizing the use of "contemporary" cases; access to literature that explores the future shock of increasing organizational complexity; and the desirability of Rorschach type materials that facilitate discussion of. values and administrative truths. The discussion proceeds by tracing the development of the case study technique, its advantages and disadvantages in the classroom, addressing the utility of "fiction" as an educational resource, and showing how the science fiction literature has matured to the point where it can be applied in all of the major sub-fields of public administration. Several outstanding examples are detailed, and a thorough bibliography is provided.

Irrigation in the Medieval Islamic Fayyum: Local Control in a Large-Scale Hydraulic System

2012 ◽  
Vol 55 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-31 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yossef Rapoport ◽  
Ido Shahar
Keyword(s):  
Water Supply ◽  
Local Control ◽  
Water Allocation ◽  
Hydraulic System ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Close Reading ◽  
Unique Case ◽  
Islamic Period ◽  
Distinctive Aspect

Abstract Because of the unique set of sources available, the Fayyum in Middle Egypt offers a unique case study of large-scale irrigation from antiquity to the Islamic period. A close reading of a cadastral survey of the province from 641/1243-4 shows that the distinctive aspect of the Islamic period was the local control of water supply and management. Drawing on the engineering experience of the villagers, water allocation and management in the gravity-fed canals of the Fayyum were in the hands of iqṭāʿ holders and tribal groups along the main canals, a pattern similar to that which pertained in mediaeval al-Andalus.

Biology and Manners

2020 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Science Fiction ◽  
American Literature ◽  
Disability Studies ◽  
Fan Studies ◽  
Contemporary American Literature ◽  
Contemporary Science ◽  
The Us ◽  
Main Series ◽  
Current Concerns ◽  
The Red Queen

This volume is a new collection of scholarly essays on the US science fiction and fantasy writer Lois McMaster Bujold. The collection argues for the significant contributions Bujold’s works make to feminist and queer thought, disability studies, and fan studies. In addition, it suggests the importance of Bujold to contemporary American literature. The volume continues the establishment of Bujold as an important author of contemporary science fiction and fantasy. It argues that her corpus spans the distance between two full arcs of US feminism and has anticipated or responded to several of its current concerns in ways that invite or even require theoretical exploration. As well as papers on earlier work in the main series (the Vorkosigan Saga and the ‘Worlds of the Five Gods’ novels The Curse of Chalion and Paladin of Souls), the collection also presents work on recent publications such as The Sharing Knife sequence; the ‘Penric and Desdemona’ novellas; and the recent Vorkosigan Saga novel Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen. The collection deepens feminist research in Bujold studies by incorporating queer and disability studies perspectives; and includes historiographic retracing of scholarship on Bujold’s work.

La réception des notions philosophiques de trace, d’arkhé et de document dans l’œuvre d’Alain Nadaud

Labyrinth ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 91-105
Author(s):  
Gianluca Chiadini
Keyword(s):  
Jacques Derrida ◽  
Research Method ◽  
Historical Research ◽  
Philosophical Analysis ◽  
Western Society ◽  
Philosophical Theory ◽  
Philosophical Interpretation ◽  
French Writer ◽  
Contemporary Western Society

The reception of the notions of trace, arkhé, and document in the work of Alain Nadaud This paper intends to point out the philosophical features in the novels of the French writer Alain Nadaud and their links with the philosophical theory concerning the concepts of trace, arkhé and document elaborated by Jacques Derrida in the second half of the XX century. This subject, related to the contemporary socio-historical concept of post-truth, reveals the originality and the up-to-date tendency in the novels of Alain Nadaud. This paper uncovers new important aspects of his work by proposing a solid philosophical interpretation of its main theoretical principles. In particular, it uncovers the philosophical reasons at the origin of his writing, which is based on the historical research method. Furthermore, it reveals the sense of dystopia of his novels and relates it with the most recent socio-philosophical analysis of contemporary western society.

Communication contexts about illness, death and dying for people with intellectual disabilities and life-limiting illness

2011 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 201-208 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen Ryan ◽  
Suzanne Guerin ◽  
Philip Dodd ◽  
John McEvoy
Keyword(s):  
Intellectual Disabilities ◽  
Quality Care ◽  
Death And Dying ◽  
Western Society ◽  
Framework Analysis ◽  
Health Service Executive ◽  
Provide Quality Care ◽  
Open Discussion ◽  
Alternative Approaches ◽  
People With Intellectual Disabilities

AbstractObjective:The general population has been involved in considerable debate about communication and awareness within the context of death and dying. However, there has been little research on how matters of communication on this topic are handled for people with life-limiting illness and intellectual disabilities. This qualitative study explored how staff managed communication about death and dying with people with intellectual disabilities in a Health Service Executive area in Ireland.Method:Ninety-one individuals took part in 16 focus groups. Interviews were analysed using framework analysis.Results:Participants infrequently discussed death and dying with people with intellectual disabilities. Participants operated most commonly in suspicious awareness environments with people with mild-to-moderate intellectual disabilities, and closed awareness environments with people with severe intellectual disabilities. The majority of participants did not hold absolute opinions that talking about illness, death, and dying with people with intellectual disabilities was “wrong.” Rather, they were concerned that their lack of skill and experience in the area would cause harm if they engaged in open conversations. Relatives had an influential role on the process of communication. Participants were strongly motivated to provide quality care and were willing to consider alternative approaches to communication if this would benefit people with intellectual disabilities.Significance of results:Although there has been a shift toward conditional open awareness of death and dying in Western society, people with intellectual disabilities have not been afforded the same opportunity to engage in open discussion of their mortality. This study points to the urgent need to engage in debate about this issue in order to ensure that people with intellectual disabilities receive high quality palliative care toward the end of life.

“In search of our better selves”: Totem Transfer Narratives and Indigenous Futurities

2018 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-90 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dallas Hunt
Keyword(s):  
Global Warming ◽  
Science Fiction ◽  
Cultural Production ◽  
The Self ◽  
Intergenerational Transfer ◽  
Canadian Literature ◽  
Indigenous Knowledges ◽  
Contemporary Science ◽  
White Settlers ◽  
Sustainable Futures

Much contemporary science fiction urges us to focus on eco-activism and sustainable futures in order to prevent environmental catastrophe. From a critical Indigenous and anticolonial perspective, however, the question becomes “for whom are these futures sustainable”? Set in a nondescript desert dystopia, George Miller's film Mad Max: Fury Road 2015 alludes to the westerns of yesteryear and the Australian “outback”—spaces coded as menacing in their resistance to being tamed by settler-colonial interests. This article charts how Miller's film, while preoccupied with issues pertaining to global warming and ecological collapse, replicates and reifies settler replacement narratives, or what Canadian literature scholar Margery Fee has referred to as “totem transfer” narratives (1987). In these narratives, ultimately the “natives” transfer their knowledges and then disappear from view, helping white settlers remedy the self-created ills that currently threaten their worlds and enabling them to inherit the land. In the second half, I also consider how Indigenous futurist texts offer decolonizing potentials that refute the replacement narratives that persist in settler-colonial contexts. In particular, I examine how Indigenous cultural production emphasizes the importance of the intergenerational transfer of Indigenous knowledges and refuses the hermeneutic of reconciliation that seeks to discipline Indigenous futures in the service of a settler-colonial present.

Solo Sailing: An “Ordinary Girl”, Voluntary Risk-Taking and (Ir)Responsibility

2014 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 267-286 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mike Brown ◽  
Dawn Penney
Keyword(s):  
Risk Taking ◽  
Focal Point ◽  
Western Society ◽  
Risk Averse ◽  
Perceptions Of Risk ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Public Reaction ◽  
Contemporary Western Society

This article draws on material associated with a solo sailing circumnavigation, undertaken by 16 year old Jessica Watson in 2009–2010, to discuss how her voyage provided a focal point for debates relating to voluntary risk-taking conducted within the sport and leisure context. Specifically, we illustrate how public and media commentaries on her voyage reflect discourses of risk being infused and conflated with discourses of responsibility, youth and gender. Our analysis brings to the fore the contested, moral and political nature of risk discourses in contemporary western society. Public reaction to Watson’s voyage indicates that descriptions of western society as risk-averse fail to capture the situated and dynamic perceptions of risk.

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