Communications in Humanities Research
- The Open Access Proceedings Series for Conferences
Communications in Humanities Research
Vol. 23, 20 December 2023
Open
Access | Article
The Development of Postmodern Identity in the Characterisation of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep
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Abstract
This paper shows that postmodern identity is closely related to the image of cyborg in science fiction. Analyzing the environment and characters in Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, written by Philip K.Dick, offers a deep understanding of characteristics of postmodern identity, which is unstable, fragmented and changeable. The bleak urban landscape where only few people live presents a post war and high tech world that shares features of postmodernism. Besides, the character John Isidore, who is a special, and many escaped androids are all considered as “others” that should be excluded from the normal society. Hence the dilemma of postmodern identity can be uncovered. To be specific, the android character Rachael Rosen illustrates the fragmentation and reconstruction of postmodern female identity because she is a humanoid robot designed as a woman. Also the combination between a cyborg and a woman gives an insight into the similarities between its identity and her identity. Based on the cyborg theory by Donna Haraway, the criticism by Anne Balsamo in “Reading Cyborgs Writing Feminism” and the postmodern identity theory by Elena Abrudan, the extent to which Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? explored the identity can be disclosed.
Keywords
Identity, postmodernism, feminism, cyborg
References
1. Abrudan, Elena. “The Dynamics of Postmodern Identity.” Journal of Media Research-Revista de Studii Media 4(09) (2011): 21-30.
2. Balsamo, Anne. “Reading Cyborgs Writing Feminism.” The Gendered Cyborg: A Reader, Ed. Gill Kirkup. Psychology Press, 2000.148-157. E-book.
3. Dick, Philip K. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?. Great Britain: Gollancz, 2010.
4. Haraway, Donna. “A Cyborg Manifesto: Science, Technology, and Socialist-Feminism in the Late Twentieth Century.” University of Minnesota Press. 2016: 5-76.
5. Kaplan, Cora. “Sea Changes.” Culture and Feminism. London: Verso Books. 1986.
6. Shomer, Rachel. “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?: Cyborg Feminist Theory and Escaping Systematic Oppression.” 2018 NCUR (2018): 684-689.
Data Availability
The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study will be available from the authors upon reasonable request.
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- Volume Title
- Proceedings of the International Conference on Global Politics and Socio-Humanities
- ISBN (Print)
- 978-1-83558-241-1
- ISBN (Online)
- 978-1-83558-242-8
- Published Date
- 20 December 2023
- Series
- Communications in Humanities Research
- ISSN (Print)
- 2753-7064
- ISSN (Online)
- 2753-7072
- DOI
- 10.54254/2753-7064/23/20230718
- Copyright
- 20 December 2023
- Open Access
- This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited