Donna Haraway, born in 1944 in Denver, Colorado, is currently a professor and former chair of the History of Consciousness Program at the University of California, Santa Cruz, United States. Donna Haraway also teaches feminist theory and technoscience at the European Graduate School in Saas-Fee, Switzerland, where she conducts an Intensive Summer Seminar. She is the author of Crystals, Fabrics, and Fields: Metaphors of Organicism in Twentieth-Century Developmental Biology (1976), Primate Visions: Gender, Race, and Nature in the World of Modern Science (1989), Simians, Cyborgs, and Women : The Reinvention of Nature (1991), and Modest_Witness @Second_Millennium. FemaleMan© Meets OncoMouse™ (1997). 1944 (MCMXLIV) was a leap year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1944 calendar). ... Nickname: The Mile-High City Location of Denver in Colorado, USA Coordinates: Country United States State Colorado City-County Denver (coextensive) Founded November 22, 1858 Incorporated November 7, 1861 Mayor John Hickenlooper (D) Area    - City 401. ... History of Consciousness is an interdisciplinary graduate program with links to the sciences, social sciences, and humanities at the University of California in Santa Cruz, California. ... The University of California, Santa Cruz, also known as UCSC or UC Santa Cruz, is one of the ten campuses of the University of California. ... Feminist theory is the extension of feminism into theoretical, or philosophical, ground. ... Technoscience is a concept widely used in the interdisciplinary community of Science and Technology Studies to designate the social and technological context of science. ... The European Graduate School (EGS) in Switzerland is a privately funded graduate school founded by the non-profit European Foundation of Interdisciplinary Studies. ... Saas-Fee is a Swiss village and tourism centre in the Saas-Valley in the Wallis mountains. ...

Haraway earned a degree in Zoology and Philosophy at the Colorado College and received the Boettcher Foundation scholarship. She lived in Paris for a year, studying philosophies of evolution on a Fulbright scholarship before completing her Ph.D. from the Biology Department of Yale in 1972. She wrote her dissertation on the functions of metaphor in shaping research in developmental biology in the twentieth century. Zoology is the biological discipline which involves the study of non-human animals. ... The Death of Socrates, by Jacques-Louis David (1787) depicts the philosopher Socrates carrying out his own execution. ... The Colorado College is a private four-year, co-educational liberal arts college located in Colorado Springs, Colorado. ... City flag City coat of arms Motto: Fluctuat nec mergitur (Latin: Tossed by the waves, she does not sink) Location Coordinates Time Zone CET (GMT +1) Administration Country France Région ÃŽle-de-France Département Paris (75) Subdivisions 20 arrondissements Mayor Bertrand Delanoë  (PS) (since 2001) City Statistics Land... In 1832, while traveling on the Beagle, naturalist Charles Darwin collected giant fossils in South America. ... Biology (from Greek βίος λόγος, see below) is the study of life. ... YALE (Yet Another Learning Environment) is an environment for machine learning experiments and data mining. ... In language, a metaphor (from the Greek: metapherin rhetorical trope) is defined as a direct comparison between two or more seemingly unrelated subjects. ...

Haraway has taught Women's Studies and General Science at the University of Hawaii and Johns Hopkins University. In September, 2000, Haraway was awarded the highest honor given by the Society for Social Studies of Science, the J. D. Bernal Award, for lifetime contributions to the field. Haraway is a leading thinker about people's love and hate relationship with machines. Her ideas have sparked an explosion of debate in areas as diverse as primatology, philosophy, and developmental biology (Kunzru, 1). This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... The University of Hawai`i, formally the University of Hawai`i System and popularly known as UH, is a public, co-educational college and university system that confers associate, bachelor, master, doctoral and post-doctoral degrees through three university campuses, seven community college campuses, an employment training center, three university... The Johns Hopkins University, founded in 1876, is a private institution of higher learning located in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. ... John Desmond Bernal (1901–1971) was an Irish-born scientist (from Nenagh, County Tipperary), known for pioneering X-ray crystallography. ...

Haraway's books

Primate Visions

Primate Visions

When reading Haraway’s books, it is clear that her writings are predominantly grounded in her knowledge of the history of science and biology (Carubia, 4). In her book, Primate Visions: Gender, Race, and Nature in the World of Modern Science, Haraway explicates the metaphors and narratives that direct the science of primatology. She demonstrates that there is a tendency to masculinize the stories about "reproductive competition and sex between aggressive males and receptive females [that] facilitate some and preclude other types of conclusions" (Carubia, 4). She contends that female primatologists focus on different observations that require more communication and basic survival activities, offering very different perspectives of the origins of nature and culture than the currently accepted ones. Drawing on examples of Western narratives and ideologies of gender, race and class, Haraway questions the most fundamental constructions of scientific human nature stories based on primates. In Primate Visions, she writes: Image File history File links Primate_visions. ... Image File history File links Primate_visions. ... Part of a scientific laboratory at the University of Cologne. ... Biology (from Greek βίος λόγος, see below) is the study of life. ... Primatology is the study of non-human primates. ... In non-technical terms, no matter what the context (whether scientific, philosophical, legal, etc) a narrative is a story, an interpretation of some aspect of the world that is historically and culturally grounded and shaped by human personality (per Walter Fisher). ... An ideology is a collection of ideas. ... The gender symbols used to denote a male or female organism. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Social class refers to the hierarchical distinctions between individuals or groups in societies or cultures. ...

My hope has been that the always oblique and sometimes perverse focusing would facilitate revisionings of fundamental, persistent western narratives about difference, especially racial and sexual difference; about reproduction, especially in terms of the multiplicities of generators and offspring; and about survival, especially about survival imagined in the boundary conditions of both the origins and ends of history, as told within western traditions of that complex genre (377).

Haraway’s aim for science is “to reveal the limits and impossibility of its 'objectivity' and to consider some recent revisions offered by feminist primatologists” (Russon, 10). An expert in her field, Haraway proposed an alternative perspective of the accepted ideologies that continue to shape the way scientific human nature stories are created. More importantly, Haraway offers inventive analogies that reveal whole new vistas and possibilities for investigation (Elkins). Objectivity has several meanings: Objectivity (philosophy) Objectivity (journalism) This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ...

The Modest Witness

A Manifesto for Cyborgs

Haraway has been described as a “feminist, rather loosely a neo-Marxist and a postmodernist” (Young, 172). In 1985, Haraway published A Manifesto for Cyborgs: Science, Technology, and Socialist-Feminism in the Late Twentieth Century. Although most of Haraway’s earlier work is focused on emphasizing the masculine bias in scientific culture, she has also contributed greatly to feminist narratives of the twentieth century. Feminism is a social theory and political movement primarily informed and motivated by the experience of women. ... In a sociological sense, neo-Marxism adds Max Webers broader understanding of social inequality -- such as status and power -- to Marxist philosophy. ... Postmodernism (sometimes abbreviated pomo) is a term applied to a wide-ranging set of developments in critical theory, philosophy, architecture, art, literature, and culture, which are generally characterized as either emerging from, in reaction to, or superseding, modernism. ...

Haraway takes from her scientific background and becomes the observer and witness of bias in today’s society. In A Manifesto for Cyborgs, Haraway ironically invokes the metaphor of a cyborg to challenge feminists to engage in a politics beyond naturalism and essentialisms. Some have suggested here that she also uses the metaphor of the cyborg to offer a political strategy for the seemingly disparate interests of socialism and feminism. Firstly, she introduces and defines the “cyborg” in a four-part definition. A cyborg is (see also Cyborg theory): In language, a metaphor (from the Greek: metapherin rhetorical trope) is defined as a direct comparison between two or more seemingly unrelated subjects. ... Socialism refers to a broad array of doctrines or political movements that envisage a socio-economic system in which property and the distribution of wealth are subject to social control. ... Seven of Nine, a Borg in Star Trek: Voyager The term cyborg, a portmanteau of cybernetic organism, is used to designate an organism which is a mixture of organic and mechanical (synthetic) parts. ... Cyborg theory was created by Donna Haraway in order to critique traditional notions of feminism. ...

• Cybernetic organism
• Hybrid of machine and organism
• Creature of lived social reality
• Creature of fiction

However, others might argue with this simplistic interpretation. Cybernetics is a theory of the communication and control of regulatory feedback. ... A crab is an example of an organism. ... // In biology, hybrid has two meanings. ... Wind turbines A machine is any mechanical or organic device that transmits or modifies energy to perform or assist in the performance of tasks. ...

In this essay, Haraway is also addressing a couple of forms of feminism popular during the mid-80s. As a postmodern feminist, she argued against essentialism – which is “any theory that claims to identify a universal, transhistorical, necessary cause or constitution of gender identity or patriarchy” (Feminist Epistemology, 2006). Such theories, argues Haraway, either exclude women who don’t conform to the theory and segregate them from “real women” or represent them as inferior. Another form of feminism that Haraway is disputing is “a jurisprudence model of feminism made popular by the legal scholar and Marxist, Catharine MacKinnon” (Burow-Flak, 2000) who fought to outlaw pornography in the mid-80s, which she considered a form of hate speech. Haraway argues that MacKinnon’s radical feminism assimiliates all of womens’ experiences into a particular identity that incorporates the Western ideologies contributing to the oppression of women. She writes: “It is factually and politically wrong to assimilate all of the diverse 'moments' or 'conversations' in recent women's politics named radical feminism to MacKinnon's version” (158). An essay is a short work of writing that treats a topic from an authors personal point of view. ... Essentialism is the belief and practice centered on a philosophical claim that for any specific kind of entity it is at least theoretically possible to specify a finite list of characteristics, all of which any entity must have to belong to the group defined. ... In philosophy, a proposition is said to have universality if it can be conceived as being true in all possible contexts without creating a contradiction. ... Patriarchy (from Greek: pater (genitive form patris, showing the root patr-), meaning father and arché meaning rule) is the anthropological term used to define the sociological condition where male members of a society tend to predominate in positions of power; with the more powerful the position, the more likely it... Marxism is the political practice and social theory based on the works of Karl Marx, a 19th century philosopher, economist, journalist, and revolutionary, along with Friedrich Engels. ... Catherine MacKinnon Catharine Alice MacKinnon (born 7 October 1946) is an American feminist, scholar, lawyer, teacher, and activist. ... Hate speech is a controversial term for speech intended to degrade, intimidate, or incite violence or prejudicial action against a person or group of people based on their race, gender, age, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, moral or political views, etc. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

According to Haraway in her Manifesto, "There is nothing about being female that naturally binds women. There is not even such a state as 'being' female, itself a highly complex category constructed in contested sexual scientific discourses and other social practices" (155). A cyborg, on the other hand does not require a stable, essentialist identity, argues Haraway, and women should consider creating coalitions based on “affinity” instead of identity. To ground her argument, Haraway analyzes the phrase "women of color," suggesting it as one possible category of affinity politics (Senft, 2001). Using a term coined by theorist Chela Sandoval, Haraway writes that “oppositional consciousness” is comparable with a cyborg politics, because rather than identity it stresses how affinity comes as a result of "otherness, difference, and specificity" (156). In ontology, a being is anything that can be said to be, either transcendantly or immanently. ... The Other or constitutive other is a key concept in continental philosophy, opposed to the Same. ... Difference is the contrary of equality, in particular of objects. ...

The idea is to shift one’s thinking of isolated individuals to thinking of people as vertexes on networks. In this sense, a kinship can be developed that has nothing to do with Western, patriarchial ideals. Haraway’s ideal “cyborg world” consists of people living together, unafraid of their joint kinship with animals and machines. “The political struggle is to see from both perspectives at once because each reveals both dominations and possibilities unimaginable from the other vantage point. Single vision produces worse illusions than double vision or many-headed monsters”(155). Individualism is a term used to describe a moral, political, or social outlook, that stresses human independence and the importance of individual self-reliance and liberty. ... A labeled graph on 6 vertices and 7 edges. ... In Graph theory, a digraph with weighted edges is called a network. ...

“I’d rather be a Cyborg than a goddess”

The 1990s brought about the beginning of the cyborg era and Haraway is a constant contributor to the cyberculture that exists even today. Although Haraway’s writing endorses technology in her metaphor of the cyborg, it is equally critical of what technology can bring about. The idea that machines can contribute to the liberation is something feminists and women should consider. Haraway writes: “Up till now (once upon a time), female embodiment seemed to be given, organic, necessary; and female embodiment seemed to mean skill in mothering and its metaphoric extensions. Only by being out of place could we take intense pleasure in machines, and then with excuses that this was organic activity after all, appropriate to females” (180). This article is about the year. ... Cyberculture is a frequently and flexibly used term lacking an explicit meaning. ... By the mid 20th century humans had achieved a level of technological mastery sufficient to leave the surface of the planet for the first time and explore space. ...

The following table is taken from Simians, Cyborgs and Women and illustrates various facets of society, concrete and abstract, that Haraway believes will eventually change. The left column lists the old components of hierarchical dominance; the right column lists the alternatives that will be supplied by a network of equally-valued individuals.

References

• Burow-Flak, Elizabeth. "Background Information on Cyborg Manifesto." 17 September 2000. http://faculty.valpo.edu/bflak/seminar/char_har.html, 30 January 2006.
• Carubia, Josephine M. “Haraway on the Map.” Semiotic Review of Books. 9:1 (1998) 4-7
• Elkins, Charles. “The Uses of Science Fiction.” Science Fiction Studies. 17:2 (1990)
• “Feminist Epistemology and Philosophy of Science.” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 30 January 2006. http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/feminism-epistemology/
• Haraway, Donna J. Primate Visions: Gender, Race, and Nature in the World of Modern Science. Routledge: New York and London, 1989
• Haraway, Donna J. “A Cyborg Manifesto: Science, Technology, and Socialist-Feminism in the Late Twentieth Century.” Simians, Cyborgs and Women: The Reinvention of Nature. New York; Routledge, 1991. p.149-181.
• Kunzru, Hari. “You Are Cyborg”. Wired Magazine. 5:2 (1997) 1-7
• Russon, Anne. “Deconstructing Primatology?” Semiotic Review of Books. 2:2 (1991) 9-11
• Senft, Theresa M. "Reading Notes on Donna Haraway's 'Cyborg Manifesto.'" 21 October 2001. http://www.echonyc.com/~janedoe/writing/manifesto.html 01 February 2006.
• Young, Robert M. “Science, Ideology & Donna Haraway.” Science as Culture. 15.3(1992): 165-207

January 30 is the 30th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

See also

• Cyborg theory
• Democratic transhumanism
• Postgenderism
• Posthumanism
• Techno-progressivism
• Postmodernism

Cyborg theory was created by Donna Haraway in order to critique traditional notions of feminism. ... Democratic transhumanism, a term coined by Dr. James Hughes in 2002, refers to the stance of transhumanists (humanists who support morphological freedom and the ethical use of human enhancement technologies) who espouse liberal, social or radical democratic political views. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... Techno-progressivism, technoprogressivism, or tech-progressivism (a portmanteau word combining technology-focused and progressivism), is a stance of active support for technological development and social progress. ... Andy Warhols iconic Marilyn Monroe Postmodernism is an idea that has been extremely controversial and difficult to define among scholars, intellectuals, and historians, as it connotes to many the hotly debated idea that the modern historical period has passed. ...

External links

• History of Consciousness Program Website
• Donna Haraway Faculty Website European Graduate School
• 1997 Interview in Wired