نام پژوهشگر: هما سادات موسوی
هما سادات موسوی رضا یاوریان
the present study has tried to accomplish an analysis of margaret atwood’s novels oryx and crake, and the year of the flood in the light of posthuman and cyborg theories. considering posthumanism as a critical reading of some notions of humanism focus of which in this thesis has been identity, new definitions for humanity and human identity are formed. haraway’s cyborg, as one possible new figure of human being, constructed from cybernetic and organic parts has a significant role in the definition of the new identity. this study starts from the deconstruction of the unified ‘i’ of humanism, emergence of cyborgs and consequently cyborg identity. the presence of cyborg figure also challenges the hierarchy of the maker and the made which has also been elaborated on in the thesis. moreover, the old definitions of humanity, family, and even love are giving their place to the new ones, matching the new era. questioning the notions of birth, death, family, love, and procreation, and considering them as historical rather than natural, the novels present new possibilities and forms for these pre-supposed constructions. with haraway’s cyborg figure, challenging humanism’s definition of human being and the unified ‘i’ that has existed since, the long-lived conventions of origin story has also been changed. being constructed from the beginning, cyborg seeks a separate path from the idea of human’s natural phenomena in which human being evolves through natural selection. the thesis has tried to present the formation of the cyborg identity which mixes up the separation between natural and unnatural, made and born. it has also tried to present how the creation of cyborg and cyborg identity challenges the myths of origin, birth, and death. furthermore, who or what counts as family has been redefined in relation with the cyborgs, weakening the myth of heterosexual couples and family, and questioning the notion of love.