Unplugging the Cyborg: The Female Cyborg Experience in James Tiptree Jr.’s The Girl Who Was Plugged In

Yıl 2024, Cilt: 1 Sayı: 2, 26 - 39, 10.07.2024

Selis Yıldız Şen Evren Akaltun Akan

Öz

The concept of freedom is integral to cyberpunk literature and is prominently explored through the depiction of the
cyborg figure, particularly female cyborg figure, as seen in James Tiptree Jr.’s novella, The Girl Who Was Plugged In
(1973). Tiptree’s novella explores the intersection of the human and the machine in relation to agency, identity, and
independence through P. Burke, who lives in and experiences sociality through Delphi’s synthetic body. Set in
dystopian future, the narrative enables a critical investigation of human existence and freedom in the cyberpunk age’s
intertwining organic and synthetic realms. As P. Burke navigates her existence in Delphi's body, the tension between
genuine human desires and the constraints imposed by technological interfaces as well as organKc lKmKtatKons of the
body evokes a certaKn questKon assocKated wKth such KntrKcate and conflKctKng sKtuatKon: Does the transformative cyborg experience liberate or subjugate the individual? Drawing on Deleuze & Guattari’s notion of rhizome and Donna
Haraway’s explorations on how the figure of cyborg challenges the phallocentric Western discourse, this paper aims
to examine freedom and agency within the portrayal of the female cyborg in James Tiptree Jr.’s The Girl Who Was
Plugged In and argues that the cyborg experience presents both a deconstruction and reaffirmation of humanistic values in a shifting context.

Anahtar Kelimeler

female cyborg, rhizome, cyberpunk literature, agency, freedom, The Girl Who Was Plugged In, James Tiptree Jr.

Siborgu Deşifre Etmek: James Tiptree Jr’ın Uzaktan Kumandali Kız’ında Kadın Siborg Deneyimi

Öz

Siperpunk edebiyatının ayrılmaz bir parçası olan özgürlük kavramı, özellikle kadın siborg figürü ve temsilleri
aracılığıyla öne çıkar ve James Tiptree Jr.’ın kısa romanı Uzaktan Kumandalı Kız (1973) da bu temsilin en dikkate
değer örneklerinden birini sunar. Tiptree’nin novellası, Delphi isimli sentetik bedende yaşayan ve bu beden aracılığıyla
toplumla sosyallik kuran P. Burke isimli karakter üzerinden, eylemlilik, kimlik ve bağımsızlık bağlamında insan ile
makinenin kesişimine dair bir keşfe çıkar. Distopik bir gelecekte geçen bu hikaye, organik ve sentetik âlemlerin iç içe
geçtiği siberpunk çağında insan varlığı ve özgürlük hakkında kritik sorgulamalar gerçekleştirmeyi mümkün kılar. P.
Burke, Delphi’nin bedeninde varlığını sürdürürken, gerçek insan arzuları ile teknolojik Knterfazların koyduğu kısıtlamalar ve bedenin organik sınırlamaları arasındaki gerilim, bu tür karmaşık ve çelişkili bir durumla ilişkilendirilebKlecek belirli bir soruyu gündeme getirir: Siborg deneyimi bireyi özgürleştirir mi yoksa boyunduruk altına mı alır? Deleuze & Guattari'nin rizom kavramı ve Donna Haraway’in siborg figürünün fallosantrik Batı söylemini nasıl sorguladığı üzerine araştırmalarından hareketle, bu makale, kadın siborg tasvirinde özgürlük ve eylemliliği incelemeyi amaçlamakla birlikte, James Tiptree Jr.’ın, Uzaktan Kumandalı Kız’ındaki siborg deneyiminin, değişen bağlamlar içerisinde, hümanistik değerleri hem yapıbozuma uğrattığı hem de tasdik ettiğini iddia etmektedir.

Anahtar Kelimeler

kadın siborg, rizom, siberpunk edebiyatı, eylemlilik, bağımsızlık, Uzaktan Kumandalı Kız, JamesTiptree Jr.

Kaynakça

• Cavallaro, D. (2000). Cyberpunk and cyberculture. Bloomsbury Publishing.
• Deleuze, G., & Guattari, F. L. (1987). A thousand plateaus: Capitalism and schizophrenia (B. Massumi, Trans.). Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.
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• Haraway, D. (1991). “A cyborg manifesto: Science, technology, and socialist-feminism in the late twentieth century,” In Simians, cyborgs, and women: the reinvention of nature (1st ed. pp. 149-181). New York: Routledge.
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• Rhee, J. (2019). Finance speculation, indeterminacy, and unforeclosed futures in James Tiptree, Jr.’s “The Girl Who Was Plugged In.” Science Fiction Studies, 46(3), 449–469. https://doi.org/10.5621/sciefictstud.46.3.0449
• Stevenson, M. C. (2007). Trying to plug in: Posthuman cyborgs and the search for connection. Science Fiction Studies, 87–105. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4241495
• Tiptree Jr., J. (1989). The girl who was plugged in. Waseda University. https://www.f.waseda.jp/sidoli/Tiptree_Girl_Plugged_In.pdf