Beyond Ghost in the (Human) Shell

The cyborg inscribes itself nearly everywhere, forcing us to re-examine discourses of humanity, modernity, Japan, and technology. I will trace the early history of the cyborg, from its hidden roots and precursors in fin de siècle Gothic fiction to its fully formed conception in 1990s science fiction and Donna Haraway’s Cyborg Manifesto. I will then move beyond the well-known cyborg genealogy to delve into contemporary portrayals that radically expand the cyborg’s political potential, and posthuman role, through an analysis of Kenji Kamiyama’s Kōkaku Kidōtai Sutando Arōn Konpurekkusu (Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex), the 2002-2003 TV series based on Shirō Masamune’s 1989-91 manga Kōkaku Kidōtai (Ghost in the Shell). The cyborg, the automaton, the robot, the ab-human; the monster created by science has a long history in Western and Eastern culture, but this history is one of mutability and hybridity. The figure of the cyborg is continually redefining itself. Standing at the crossroads of multiple genres, politics, temporal and spatial movements, the cyborg is a cipher for the ever-changing relationships between humanity, technology, and politics. Donna J. Haraway’s essay “A Cyborg Manifesto: Science, Technology, and Socialist-Feminism in the Late Twentieth Century” codified this idea of the cyborg, creating an ironic and postmodern political practice that can be utilized to examine many aspects of the contemporary condition. In particular, Haraway’s Manifesto, and the figure of the mutable and multiple feminine cyborg, open for us an entry way into a realm of interlinked contemporary discourses. From Techno-Orientalism to Agamben’s biopolitics, from Japanimation to the Gothic, the cyborg inscribes itself nearly everywhere, forcing us to re-examine discourses of humanity, modernity, Japan, and technology. I will trace the early history of the cyborg, from its hidden roots and precursors in fin de siècle Gothic fiction to its fully formed conception in 1990s science fiction and the Cyborg Manifesto. I will then move beyond the wellknown cyborg history to delve into contemporary portrayals that radically expand the cyborg’s political potential, and posthuman role, through an analysis of Kenji Kamiyama’s Kōkaku Kidōtai Sutando Arōn