Abstract
Transhumanism is a 21st century radical movement
focusing on the evolution of the humanity through advanced technologies or
scientific utopia that will lead to humanistic dystopia because the enhanced
humanity would be partly ultra beings and partly aliens, robots, androids and
other type of hybrid nonhuman multispecies. Thus, as the human beings through
advanced technology form a scientific utopia, they will change humanity into
subhuman beings and different species. Namely, as transhumanism intends to reform a better future for
humanity that is re-designed with the advanced technology, it will lead the
path to transitioning humans into trans-beings. Recently, in the literary world
transhumanism and posthumanism are exponentially growing subjects all around
the world which display enhanced human beings and human future either as a
utopia or as a dystopia. Octavia Butler's Dawn
is one of the literary texts that deals with the future of the human being
and focuses on the multispecies Oankali aliens and the trans beings. In
Butler's Dawn the protagonist Lilith
Iyapo awakens 250 years after the catastrophic nuclear war, on a spaceship of
the alien Oankali race that has the power to reconstruct a new humanity due to
their advanced biotechnologies, genetic engineering, and post-human
reproduction. Thus, the aim of this study is to analyze Octavia Butler's Dawn in the light of transhumanism that
seeks to reform an enhanced life with the advanced scientific utopian
perspective but the result will be leading to a dystopian future for humanity.
Keywords
References
- Bogue, R. (2010) Metamorphosis and the Genesis of Xenos: Becoming-Other and Sexual Politics in Octavia Butler’s Xenogenesis Trilogy. Concentric: Literary and Cultural Studies, 36(2): 127-47. Bostrom, N. (2003) Are We Living in a Computer Simulation? The Philosophical Quarterly, 53 (211): 243–255. Bostrom, N. (2005). A History of Transhumanist Thought. https://nickbostrom.com/papers/history.pdf. Retrieved on July 22, 2019 Butler, O. E. (2001) Dawn. New York: Grand Central Publishing. Claeys, G., ed. (2005). Encyclopaedia of Nineteenth-Century Thought. London: Routledge, Print Doede, B.(2009) Transhumanism, Technology, and The Future: Posthumanity Emerging or Sub-Humanity Descending? Appraisal Vol. 7 No. 3 March: 39-54. Ferrando, F. (2013) Posthumanism, Transhumanism, Antihumanism, Metahumanism, and New Materialisms. Existenz,8 (2): 26-33. Firchow, Peter E. (2007). Modern Utopian Fictions: From H. G. Wells to Iris Murdoch. Washington: The Catholic UP, Print. Green, E. M. (1994). There Goes the Neighborhood: Octavia Butler’s Demand for Diversity in Utopias. In Jane L. Donawerth & Carol A. Kolmerten (eds) Utopian and Science Fiction by Women: Worlds of Difference. Syracuse: Syracuse UP. Hansell Gregory R. & Grassie, W. eds (2001). Transhumanism and its Critics. Philadelphia: Metanexus Institute. Harrison P. & Wolyniak J. (2015). The History of Transhumansim. Notes and Queries, Volume 62, Issue 3, Oxford University Press: 465-467. Huxley, J. (1951). Knowledge, Morality, and Destiny—The William Alanson White Memorial Lectures, third series. Psychiatry, 14 (2), Washington, 127–151. Huxley, J. (1957). "Knowledge, Morality, and Destiny", New Bottles for New Wine London: Chatto and Windus, 245–78. Huxley,J. (1957). "Religion Without Revelation", New Bottles for New Wine London: Chatto and Windus, 13–17. Jacobs, N. (2003).Posthuman Bodies and Agency in Octavia Butler’s Xenogenesis. In Rafaella Baccolini & Tom Moylan (eds) Dark Horizons: Science Fiction and the Dystopian Imagination. Ed. R New York: Routledge. 91-111. Lighthall, W. D. (1957), ‘The Law of Cosmic Evolutionary Adaptation: An Interpretation of Recent Thought’, Royal Society of Canada, Ottawa. Proceedings and Transactions/Me ´moires et Comptes Rendus de la Socie ´te ´ Royale Du Canada 1940. ser. 3, v. 34, section 2, 135–41. Livingstone, D. (2015). Transhumanism: the history of a dangerous idea. S.l.: Sabilillah Publications. More, M.(2013). "The philosophy of Transhumanism". In The Transhumanist Reader: Classical and Contemporary Essays on the Science, Technology, and Philosophy of the Human Future, eds. M. More and N. Vita-More,. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 3–17 Sargent, Lyman T. (1982):. “Authority & Utopia: Utopianism in Political Thought.” Polity 14.4 565-584. Sisk, David W. (1997). Transformations of Language in Modern Dystopias. Westport: Greenwood, Print. Tucker, Jeffrey A. (2007). The Human Contradiction: Identity and/as Essence in Octavia E. Butler's 'Xenogenesis' Trilogy .The Yearbook of English Studies, Modern Humanities Research Association, 37( 2): 164-181 Vieira, F. (2010). “The Concept of Utopia.” The Cambridge Companion to Utopian Literature. Ed. Gregory Claeys. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, Print. Youngquist, P. (2010) .Cyberfiction: After the Future. London: Palgrave. Zaki, Hoda M. (1990), 'Utopia, Dystopia, and Ideology in the Science Fiction of Octavia Butler', Science Fiction Studies 17.2 239-251.
Abstract
21. yüzyılın radikal bir akımı olan
Transhümanizm, ileri teknolojiler veya bilimsel ütopya yoluyla insanlığın
evrimi üzerine odaklanmaktadır fakat bu insancıl distopya ya yol açacak çünkü
gelişmiş insanlık kısmen ultra varlıklar ve kısmen uzaylılar, robotlar,
androidler ve diğer insanlık dışı çoklu melez türler olacaktır. Böylece, ileri
teknoloji yoluyla, bilimsel bir ütopya oluştururken, diğer yandan insanlığı
insanlık dışı varlıklara dönüştürecektir. Yani, Transhümanizm, ileri teknoloji
ile yeniden tasarlanan insanlık için daha iyi bir gelecek oluşturma niyetiyle
insanların trans-varlıklara dönüşmesine yol açacaktır. Son zamanlarda, edebiyat
dünyasında ve tüm dünyada katlanarak büyüyen konular olan transhümanizm ve
post-insancılık, insanlığın geleceğini ütopya veya distopya olarak
göstermektedirler. Octavia Butler'ın Dawn'ı,
insanoğlunun geleceği ile ilgilenen ve Oankali uzaylılarına ve trans
varlıklarına odaklanan edebi metinlerden biridir. Butler'ın Dawn'nda, ana karakter Lilith Iyapo, nükleer
savaştan 250 yıl sonra, gelişmiş biyoteknolojileri, genetik mühendisliği ve
insanlık sonrası üremeleri nedeniyle yeni bir insanlığı yeniden inşa etme
gücüne sahip Oankali ırkının uzay gemisinde uyanır. Bu nedenle, bu çalışmanın
amacı, Octavia Butler'ın Dawn
romanını, gelişmiş bir bilimsel ütopik bakış açısıyla gelişmiş bir yaşamı
yeniden düzenlemeyi amaçlayan transhümanizm ışığında incelemektir fakat sonuç
insanlık için distopik bir geleceğe yol açacaktır.
Keywords
References
- Bogue, R. (2010) Metamorphosis and the Genesis of Xenos: Becoming-Other and Sexual Politics in Octavia Butler’s Xenogenesis Trilogy. Concentric: Literary and Cultural Studies, 36(2): 127-47. Bostrom, N. (2003) Are We Living in a Computer Simulation? The Philosophical Quarterly, 53 (211): 243–255. Bostrom, N. (2005). A History of Transhumanist Thought. https://nickbostrom.com/papers/history.pdf. Retrieved on July 22, 2019 Butler, O. E. (2001) Dawn. New York: Grand Central Publishing. Claeys, G., ed. (2005). Encyclopaedia of Nineteenth-Century Thought. London: Routledge, Print Doede, B.(2009) Transhumanism, Technology, and The Future: Posthumanity Emerging or Sub-Humanity Descending? Appraisal Vol. 7 No. 3 March: 39-54. Ferrando, F. (2013) Posthumanism, Transhumanism, Antihumanism, Metahumanism, and New Materialisms. Existenz,8 (2): 26-33. Firchow, Peter E. (2007). Modern Utopian Fictions: From H. G. Wells to Iris Murdoch. Washington: The Catholic UP, Print. Green, E. M. (1994). There Goes the Neighborhood: Octavia Butler’s Demand for Diversity in Utopias. In Jane L. Donawerth & Carol A. Kolmerten (eds) Utopian and Science Fiction by Women: Worlds of Difference. Syracuse: Syracuse UP. Hansell Gregory R. & Grassie, W. eds (2001). Transhumanism and its Critics. Philadelphia: Metanexus Institute. Harrison P. & Wolyniak J. (2015). The History of Transhumansim. Notes and Queries, Volume 62, Issue 3, Oxford University Press: 465-467. Huxley, J. (1951). Knowledge, Morality, and Destiny—The William Alanson White Memorial Lectures, third series. Psychiatry, 14 (2), Washington, 127–151. Huxley, J. (1957). "Knowledge, Morality, and Destiny", New Bottles for New Wine London: Chatto and Windus, 245–78. Huxley,J. (1957). "Religion Without Revelation", New Bottles for New Wine London: Chatto and Windus, 13–17. Jacobs, N. (2003).Posthuman Bodies and Agency in Octavia Butler’s Xenogenesis. In Rafaella Baccolini & Tom Moylan (eds) Dark Horizons: Science Fiction and the Dystopian Imagination. Ed. R New York: Routledge. 91-111. Lighthall, W. D. (1957), ‘The Law of Cosmic Evolutionary Adaptation: An Interpretation of Recent Thought’, Royal Society of Canada, Ottawa. Proceedings and Transactions/Me ´moires et Comptes Rendus de la Socie ´te ´ Royale Du Canada 1940. ser. 3, v. 34, section 2, 135–41. Livingstone, D. (2015). Transhumanism: the history of a dangerous idea. S.l.: Sabilillah Publications. More, M.(2013). "The philosophy of Transhumanism". In The Transhumanist Reader: Classical and Contemporary Essays on the Science, Technology, and Philosophy of the Human Future, eds. M. More and N. Vita-More,. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 3–17 Sargent, Lyman T. (1982):. “Authority & Utopia: Utopianism in Political Thought.” Polity 14.4 565-584. Sisk, David W. (1997). Transformations of Language in Modern Dystopias. Westport: Greenwood, Print. Tucker, Jeffrey A. (2007). The Human Contradiction: Identity and/as Essence in Octavia E. Butler's 'Xenogenesis' Trilogy .The Yearbook of English Studies, Modern Humanities Research Association, 37( 2): 164-181 Vieira, F. (2010). “The Concept of Utopia.” The Cambridge Companion to Utopian Literature. Ed. Gregory Claeys. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, Print. Youngquist, P. (2010) .Cyberfiction: After the Future. London: Palgrave. Zaki, Hoda M. (1990), 'Utopia, Dystopia, and Ideology in the Science Fiction of Octavia Butler', Science Fiction Studies 17.2 239-251.
Details
| Primary Language | English |
|---|---|
| Subjects | Cultural Studies |
| Journal Section | Turkish language, culture and literature |
| Authors | |
| Publication Date | November 21, 2019 |
| Published in Issue | Year 2019 RumeliDE 2019.Ö6 - Bandırma Onyedi Eylül Üniversitesi Uluslararası Filoloji Çalışmaları Konferansı |
