the OBSCENE machine: Meta[l]morphoses

Monday, February 12, 2007

Meta[l]morphoses

One of our colleagues in e725 forwarded this powerpoint meditation on cyborgs, etc--do note that you will probably have to have powerpoint on your system to view the link above. Here's the note that accompanied the attachment:

From: sarah smorol
To: "bnericci@mail.sdsu.edu"
Subject: FW: Meta(l)morphoses.ppt

Hello- classmates- this link is to a powerpoint presentation I did based on gendered technology and cyborgs. The images and order are done by me but the ideas are all based on Rosi Braidotti's book Metamorphoses:Towards a Materialist Theory of Becoming. MA: Polity, 2002. Braidotti argues that we are already cyborgs(plastic hips, pace makers etc) and also points out that those who control tachnology shape our future. From the perspective of gender studies then women must participate in these fields if they are to change the power dynamics of the future- one example- if daryl hannah plays the "basic pleasure model" cyborg in Bladerunner, (they actually call her this) then we might assume that men are designing the cyborgs. The same could be applied to any marginalized, (not marginal), population. The attachment this link goes to explores these issues with many movie images to support the ideas- that is tot try and prove that popular culture, which is dominated by cinema, is used to shape our ideas about what the future will be- by creating new representations women/ chicano/ disabled or otherwise, etc., creators (writers, producers, moviemakers for example)can change that future.

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History of the Obscene Machine Cyberhive...

The Obscene Machine is an ever-evolving "ARTkive" chronicling cultural studies advancements in something I call the "ersatz human"--broadly understood, it is a series of links to stories that document the history of human self-fashioning, from ancient "primitive" totems and fetiches, to contemporary digital avatars and dolls.

In other times, this blog has served as a community exchange vehicle for my students at San Diego State University. In Fall 2011, The Obscene Machine was a cultural studies seminar at San Diego State University entitled TECHNOSEXUALITIES--the course is led by head cyborg Professor William A. Nericcio. Previously, it was the host cyberHIVE for a Spring 2011 undergraduate English 220 seminar: Robotic, Erotic, Electric: Televisual Nightmares, Seductive Hallucinations, and Naked Pscyhes in Literature, Film, Art, and the Web.

Know, also, that this blog had earlier incarnations and aspirations: The Obscene Machine began its life as an online supplement both to English 493, a literature and film undergraduate class at San Diego State University, and English 725, an Ethnic American cultural studies graduate seminar--both were directed in the Spring of 2007 by the aforementioned Dr. Nericcio and the posts associated with those two classes remain online here as an ersatz gallery and a living memorial.

These mirrored courses, both experimental, fuse an interrogation of Ethnic American critical theory with a more general probing of "fictional humans"--hence the term "Ethnic Mannequins" as a subtitle for the graduate seminar and its coincident obsessions with cyborgs, novels, stereotypes, and film. Both courses may be interpreted as supplements, if not revisions, to Tex[t]-Mex (UT Press, 2007) book and precursors to Eyegiene.

The Robot Running this Site...

William Anthony Nericcio is the Director of MALAS, the Master of Arts in Liberal Arts and Sciences at San Diego State University. When not shepherding brilliant graduate student devotees of cultural studies, Nericcio also hangs his hat as a Professor of English and Comparative Literature, Chicana/o Studies, and serves on the faculty of the Center for Latin American Studies. Utterly more than is necessary to know can be found in his perplexing, image-laced online autobiography and a complete digital index of his web-based shenanigans is located here. Lastly, can also see a graphic design portfolio by Guillermo Nericcio García, his, er, 'cousin,' at memogr@phics designcasa.