Webliography

These five online sources have been critically analysed for their potential usefulness as references for an essay on the topic of the idea of the cyborg and how it has been used in feministic discourse since Donna Haraway's groundbreaking “Cyborg Manifesto” was published. They have been assessed on several aspects, including relevance to the essay topic, tone, context, and the degree to which their academic usefulness can be verified – for example, the homepage on which the page is hosted can give clues as to how valuable it is as an academic resource.

Source 1: Donna Haraway, “A Cyborg Manifesto: Science, Technology, and Socialist-Feminism in the Late Twentieth Century”
(accessed 27-8-08)

This source, being mentioned in the guiding question, would facilitate a clear understanding of the ideas that need to be used for a comprehensive essay on this topic. It consists of the entirety of Haraway's Cyborg Manifesto, complete with page numbers for easy referencing and the journal in which it was originally published. The essay examines the idea of the cyborg in the twentieth century, its effects on modern ideas of humanity and sexuality and how it affects and has been affected by politics as well as the development of science and technology that led to the development of the cyborg concept – the blurred boundary between animal and machine. Its main focus, however, is the cyborg's relation to feministic thought. The document is also part of the Stanford University site, meaning that its value as an academic source can be verified.

Source 2:
Yousuf Dhamee, “Cyborgs and Feminists”
(accessed 27/8/08)

This piece references Haraway's Manifesto and gives a simplified version of its main ideas as relating to feminism: how the concept can be empowering to women, and as “a tool with which to combat the male/female binary that she finds oppressive.” Though only a few hundred words long, the source contains valuable information for an essay-writer who may not have read or understood Haraway's work in its entirety, as well as some useful references to images of the feministic cyborg in popular culture and science-fiction which the writer can also refer to to further their argument. Its brevity does reduce its usefulness, as does the fact that while it originates from an academic website and references other sources, its authorship cannot be verified. However, it closely relates to the topic of the essay and could be a good place to begin gathering ideas and pointers to other sources, if not to use directly in the essay.

Source 3:
Anna Marie Balsamo, “Technologies of the Gendered Body” – Google Book Search
(accessed 27/8/08)
Though this version of the book is not complete, it does contain the chapter most useful to a writer of this essay: “Reading Cyborgs, Writing Feminism.” The parts shown include explanations of feminist notions of the “discourse of the body” and other parts of the book refer to Haraway and her Manifesto.

Source 4:
Judith Halberstam, “Automating Gender: Postmodern Feminism in the Age of the Intelligent Machine”
(accessed 27/8/08)
An article published in the Feminist Studies journal in 1991. It requires a Questia account to be read in full in digital form, however it deals with gendered discourses and their relationship to the cyborg or robot in a concise 22 pages. Its origin in an academic journal shows it can be used as a legitimate academic resource and it appears to closely relate to the topic of the essay.

Source 5:
Sharon Sharp, “Fembot Feminism: The Cyborg Body and Feminist Discourses in The Bionic Woman”
(accessed 27/8/08)
The article “discusses the conflict between feminism and representations of femininity in the television program The Bionic Woman.” It is a good example of the cyborg placed in the context of popular culture while juxtaposing it with feminist opinions. I found the source through Academic Search Premier and it was first published in the journal Women's Studies in October 2007. It also has affiliations with California State University – all of which signify its value as an academic resource.

Finding these five sources was not easy, possibly due to the abstract and slightly obscure nature of the topic, necessitating several attempts on different search engines and databases with different keywords. Many of the sources I located can also be found in hard copy, but I treated them as online sources for the purposes of this assignment. Having assessed each one for suitability as an academic resource and relevance to the essay topic I am confident that they would serve as useful, legitimate resources for this hypothetical essay.