Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Donna Haraway: The Digital Cyborg Assemblage and the New Digital Health Technologies

  • Chapter
The Palgrave Handbook of Social Theory in Health, Illness and Medicine

Abstract

This chapter introduces the work of the influential American feminist techno-science studies writer Donna Haraway and shows how it may be used to theorise the new digital technologies used in the health and medical sphere. Haraway’s concept of the cyborg has particularly inspired cultural theorists who have written about the implications of technologies for human embodiment and subjectivity. She argues that all individuals in contemporary Western societies have become cyborgs (a term that melds ‘cybernetic’ and ‘organism’) in their interaction with technologies, blurring the distinction between human and machine. She further uses concept of the cyborg as a metaphor for political contestation and action.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 189.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 249.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 249.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  • Appleby, J. (2002) ‘Planned Obsolescence: Flying into the Future with Stelarc’ in Zylinkska, J. (eds.) The Cyborg Experiments: The Extensions of the Body in the Media Age. Continuum: London, pp. 101–113.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bhavnani, K.-K. and Haraway D. (1994) ‘Shifting the Subject: A Conversation Between Kum-Kum Bhavnani and Donna Haraway 12 April 1993, Santa Cruz, California’ Feminism and Psychology 4(1): 19–39.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bobkowski, P. and Smith, J. (2013) ‘Social Media Divide: Characteristics of Emerging Adults Who Do Not Use Social Network Websites’ Media, Culture and Society 35(6):771–781.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bunt on, R. and Coveney, J. (2011) ‘Drugs’ Pleasures’ Critical Public Health 21(l):9–23.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bury, M. and Taylor, D. (2008) ‘Towards a Theory of Care Transition: From Medical Dominance to Managed Consumerism’ Social Theory and Health 6(3):201–219.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Casper, M. (1995) ‘Fetal Cyborgs and Technomoms on the Reproductive Frontier: Which Way to the Carnival?’ in Gray, C.H. (eds.) The Cyborg Handbook. Routledge: New York. pp.183-202.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chib, A. (2013) ‘The Promise and Peril of Mhealth in Developing Countries’ Mobile Media and Communication l(l):69–75.

    Google Scholar 

  • Crawford, R. (1980) ‘Healthism and the Medicalization of Everyday Life’ International Journal of Health Care Services 10(3):365–388.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Frederico, C.-J.; Tiago, O. and Fernando, B. (2012) ‘Digital Divide Across the European Union’ Information and Management 49(6):278–291.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Freund, P. (1998) ‘Social Performances and Their Discontents’ in Bendelow, G. and Williams, S. (eds.) Emotions in Social Life. Routledge: London, pp. 268–94.

    Google Scholar 

  • Freund, P. (2004) ‘Civilised Bodies Redux: Seams in the Cyborg’ Social Theory and Health 2(3):273–289.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fuchs, C. and Horak, E. (2008) ‘Africa and the Digital Divide’ Telematics and Informatics 25(2):99–116.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gane, N. (2006) ‘When We Have Never Been Human, What Is To Be Done? Interview with Donna Haraway’ Theory Culture and Society 23(7-8): 135–158.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gottleib, A. (2000) ‘Where have all the Babies Gone? Toward an Anthropology of Infants (and Their Caretakers)’ Anthropological Quarterly 73(3): 121–32.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gray, C.H.; Mentor, S. and Figueroa-Sarriera, H. (1995) ‘Cyborgology: Constructing the Knowledge of Cybernetic Organisms’ in Gray, C.H. (eds.) The Cyborg Handbook. New York: Routledge. pp. 1–14.

    Google Scholar 

  • Halford, S. and Savage, M. (2010) ‘Reconceptualizing Digital Social Inequality’ Information, Communication and Society 13(7):937–955.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Handlarski, D. (2010) ‘Pro-creation — Haraway’s “Regeneration” and the Postcolonial Cyborg Body’ Women’s Studies 39(2):73–99.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Haraway, D. (1976) Crystals, Fabrics, and Fields: Metaphors of Organicism in Twentieth-Century Developmental Biology. Yale University Press: New Haven.

    Google Scholar 

  • Haraway, D. (1985) ‘Manifesto for Cyborgs: Science, Technology, and Socialist Feminism in the 1980s’ Socialist Review 80:65–108.

    Google Scholar 

  • Haraway, D. (1989) Primate Visions: Gender, Race, and Nature in the World of Modern Science. Routledge: New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Haraway, D. (1991a) “The Actors are Cyborg, Nature is Coyote, and The Geography is Elsewhere: Postscript to “Cyborgs at Large” ‘in Penley, C. and Ross, A. (eds.) Technoculture. The University of Minnesota Press: Minneapolis, pp. 21–26.

    Google Scholar 

  • Haraway, D. (1991b) Simians, Cyborgs and Women: The Reinvention of Nature. Free Association: London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Haraway, D. (1994) ‘A Game of Cat’s Cradle: Science Studies, Feminist Theory, Cultural Studies’ Configurations 2(1):59–71.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Haraway, D. (1995) ‘Foreword: Cyborgs and Symbionts: Living Together in The New World Order’ in Gray, C.H. (ed.) The Cyborg Handbook. Routledge: New York. pp. xi-xx.

    Google Scholar 

  • Haraway, D. (1997) Modest_Witness@Second_Millennium. FemaleMan©Meets_OncoMouse™: Feminism and Technoscience. Routledge: New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Haraway, D. (2003) The Companion Species Manifesto: Dogs, People, and Significant Otherness. Prickly Paradigm: Chicago.

    Google Scholar 

  • Haraway, D. (2004) The Haraway Reader. Routledge: New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Haiaway D. (2008) When Species Meet. The University of Minnesota Press: Minneapolis.

    Google Scholar 

  • Haraway, D. (2012) ‘Awash in Urine: DES and Premarin®in Multispedes Response-ability’ WSQ: Women’s Studies Quarterly 40(1):301–316.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Haraway, D. and Goodeve, T.N.G. (2000) How Like a Leaf: An Interview with Thyrza Nicois Goodeve. Routledge: New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Henwood, R; Wyatt, S.; Hart, A. and Smith, J. (2003) ‘ “Ignorance is Bliss Sometimes”: Constraints on the Emergence of the “informed patient ” in the Changing Landscapes of Health Information’ Sociology of Health and Illness 25(6): 589–607.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hortensius, J.; Kars, M.; Wierenga, W.; Kleefstra, N.; Bilo, H. and van der Bijl, J. (2012) ‘Perspectives of Patients with Type 1 or Insulin-treated Type 2 Diabetes on Self-monitoring of Blood Glucose: A Qualitative Study’ BMC Public Health (1). Accessed 5 May 2013. Available from http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471–2458/12/167.

  • Jensen, C.B. (2008) ‘Developing/Development Cyborgs’ Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences 7(3):375–385.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jetté, S.; Wilson, B. and Sparks, R. (2007) ‘Female Youths’ Perceptions of Smoking in Popular Films’ Qualitative Health Research 17(3):323–339.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leng, K.W. (1996) ‘On Menopause and Cyborgs: Or, Towards a Feminist Cyborg Politics of Menopause’ Body and Society 2(3):33–52.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lewis, B. (2003) ‘Prozac and the Post-human Politics of Cyborgs’ Journal of Medical Humanities 24(l/2):49–63.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lupton, D. (1995) The Imperative of Health: Public Health and the Regulated Body. Sage: London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lupton, D. (2012) ‘M-health and Health Promotion: The Digital Cyborg and Surveillance Society’ Social Theory and Health 10(3):229–244.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lupton, D. (2013a) “The Digitally Engaged Patient: Self-Monitoring and Self-Care in The Digital Health Era’ Social Theory and Health ll(3):256–270.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lupton, D. (2013b) ‘Living the Quantified Self: The Realities of Self-Tracking for Health’. Accessed 22 January 2013. Available from http://simplysociology.wordpress.com/2013/01/11/living-the-quantified-self-the-realities-of-self-tracking-for-health/.

  • Lupton, D. (2013c) ‘Quantifying the Body: Monitoring, Performing and Configuring Health in The Age of Mhealth Technologies (early view online)’ Critical Public Health Accessed 12 June 2013. Available from http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09581596.2013.79493 l#preview.

  • Lupton, D. (2013d) Risk. Second edition. Routledge: London.

    Google Scholar 

  • May, C; Montori, V.M. and Mair, F.S. (2009) ‘We Need Minimally Disruptive Medicine’ British Medical Journal 339(7719):485–487.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mol, A. (2009) ‘Living with Diabetes: Care Beyond Choice and Control’ Lancet 373(9677): 1756–1757.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mort, M.; Roberts, C. and Callén, B. (2013) ‘Ageing with Telecare: Care or Coercion in Austerity?’ Sociology of Health and Illness 35(6): 799–812.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oudshoom, N. (2008) ‘Diagnosis at a Distance: The Invisible Work of Patients and Healthcare Professionals in Cardiac Telemonitoring Technology’ Sociology of Health and Illness 30(2):272–288.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oudshoom, N. (2011) Telecare Technologies and the Transformation of Healthcare. Palgrave Macmillan: Houndmills.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Petersen, A. and Lupton, D. (1996) The New Public Health: Health and Self in the Age of Risk. Sage: London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pii, K.H. and Villadsen, K. (2013) ‘Protect the Patient from Whom? When Patients Contest Governmentality and See More Expert Guidance’ Social Theory and Health 11(1): 19–39.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reed, D. (2013) ‘The Wearable, Implantable, Personalized Future of Medicine’. Accessed 15 May 2013. Available from http://www.scientificamericm.com/article.cfm?id=the-wearable-implantable-personaliz-2013–05&WT.mc_id=SA_sharetool_Twitter.

  • Schneider, J. (2005) Donna Haraway: Live Theory. Continuum: London and New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Soper, K. (1999) ‘Of OncoMice and Female/Men: Donna Haraway on Cyborg Ontology’ Capitalism Nature Socialism 10(3):73–80.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Squires, J. (2000) ‘Fabulous Feminist Futures and The Lure of Cyberculture’ in Bell, D. and Kennedy, B. (eds.) The Cybercultures Reader. Routledge: London, pp. 360–373.

    Google Scholar 

  • Swan, M. (2009) ‘Emerging Patient-Driven Health Care Models: An Examination of Health Social Networks, Consumer Personalized Medicine and Quantified Self-Tracking’ International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 6(2):492–525.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Swan, M. (2012) ‘Health 2050: The Realization of Personalized Medicine Through Crowdsourcing, the Quantified Self, and the Participatory Biocitizen’ Journal of Personalized Medicine 2(3):93–118.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Topol, E. (2012) The Creative Destruction of Medicine: How the Digital Revolution Will Create Better Health Care. Basic Books: New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Williams, J. (2009) ‘Science Stories: An Interview with Donna J. Haraway’ Minnesota Review 2010(73/74):133–163.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zickuhr, K. (2013) Who’s Not Online and Why. Pew Research Center: Washington, DC.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zulman, D.; Damschroder, L.; Smith, R.; Resnick, P.; Sen, A.; Krupka, E. and Richardson, C. (2013) ‘Implementation and Evaluation of an Incentivized Internet-mediated Walking Program for Obese Adults’ Journal of Translational Behavioral Medicine, early view online.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Arts and Design, University of Canberra, Australia

    Deborah Lupton (Centenary Research Professor)

Authors
  1. Deborah Lupton
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Sydney, Australia

    Fran Collyer (Associate Professor) (Associate Professor)

Copyright information

© 2015 Deborah Lupton

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Lupton, D. (2015). Donna Haraway: The Digital Cyborg Assemblage and the New Digital Health Technologies. In: Collyer, F. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Social Theory in Health, Illness and Medicine. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137355621_36

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation