Critical Annotated Webliography

2. Our perception of ‘what it means to be human’ can be derived from historically developed idioms of human desire; including concerns of community, intellect, emotion, aspiration and adaptability. The body is somewhat conjoined with these ideals, providing us with resources to commit to creating a certain contentment of these ‘human’ concerns. Therefore, if the body’s physical potential is revolutionized through the application of technology, it can be assumed that the plight of the human is also revolutionized. This, in time, alters the limitations that were previously placed on humans.

If the body is continually reinterpreted as a limit to what it means to be human, it is relevant to consider the prevalence of the body being objectified in isolation to the human condition. Body iconography is an ideology that is frequented in many cultures throughout history. The varying concepts of the body as an object reflect both an isolation of the body from the human being, as well as the strong link between the body and human identity. In both Frankenstein and the Visible Human Project, the body is objectified as something to be examined, dissected, trialed and experimented with. As a medical tool, as in the VHP, or as different parts of a biological machine lying on a table, as in Shelley’s tale, the body does not emit human qualities. However, the ethical questions raised by both of these texts derive from the importance of the body in establishing identity. This enforces that we cannot deny that the body holds limitations on what it means to be human.

The relationship between the body and the human identity is commonly expressed in the arts and cultural practices around the world. In A note on Gender Iconography, Ardener outlines some instances where the link between the body and representation of sexuality is apparent. Firstly, she notes the strong feministic pride of the Kom, Bakweri and Balong communities in Africa. It is seen as a defamation of the entire female gender group of the community if any part of the female anatomy is slighted. However, Ardener also acknowledges that recent British and American ethnography appears to be revolutionizing the correlation between the female sexual anatomy and the concept of self. Writers, such as Germaine Greer and Simone de Bouvoir, call for a demystification of the body, where “the woman does not recognize herself in the vagina, which is why she does not recognize its desires as her own”1. These two instances of gender and body relations can be used as contrasting examples which recognize the body as a limitation of what it means to be human.

Apart from associations with sexuality, the body also represents other aspects of the human condition. This is reflected in the chapter The Body in Medicine, where Lupton identifies the implications of the clean body, disciplined body, sporting body, commodified body, and the dead body. The medical body is also interpreted, where the medical encounter is considered a supreme example of surveillance and disownership of the body. This is reflected in the case of the Visible Human Project, where the body is examined and repossessed by the computer interface that displays it, and its many users. Repossession of the body by the doctor, or the medical system, is also obvious in severe cases of illness and disability. This text can provide evidence of the body acting as an apparatus that limits the freedom of the patient, sportsman, consumer, etc. It also shows that technologies are needed to bypass the limitations that the body has incurred on human life.

It is clear that the juxtaposition of technology with biology has been a vivid topic of interest in the arts. Texts by Sawday and Caldwell further enforce this occurrence in more historical literature, where age-old perspectives of science and humanities are pooled together in an effort to understand the human condition. Sawday’s The Body Emblazoned heralds the ‘Renaissance culture of dissection’ – an artistic following that illustrated the realm of human dissection, and the body as a sacred and desired object. Through the examples of art and literature offered by this text, the evolution of how the interior of the body represents the human identity can be understood.

Caldwell’s text Literature and Medicine in 19th Century Britain takes this body/identity relationship to another level, examining the later Romantic literary texts, such as Frankenstein, alongside biomedical lectures. The link between literature and medicine is noted as Romantic Materialism, which also discusses the reaction against 18th Century Mechanism, known as the Vitalist Movement. This source can therefore introduce the question of whether a scientific explanation of life would threaten common cultural understanding, such as the domain of religion and traditional concepts of genesis.

Dewey’s text The Culture of Biomedicine: Studies in Science and Culture also acknowledges the relationship between science and culture in defining what it means to be human. However, it questions the ethics of technology’s intervention on the natural, highlighting the fact that society has suffered ecological and psychological crises due to the institutionalization of powerful scientific and technological means. It claims that interference of technology has resulted in the displacement of the human condition, manifesting in societal problems such as depression and the failure of social policies. And by warning the readers of the paradox of “what we create will destroy us”, the text sets up an opposition between natural and technological processes. This text’s ideology, also apparent in Frankenstein, can be used to suggest that the limitations of the body are necessary for the continuation of humanity.

The above texts aim to assist in the definition of ‘what it means to be human’, and how the body has a tendency to place limitations on this concept. Through an examination of historical and current literature, it is evident that not only the limits have to be defined, but also what are the most relevant aspects of ‘being human’ that are being restricted. And as our concept of humanity adapts to the infusion of technology, it is important to reconsider the importance of biology if technology has the power to free us of our somewhat humanistic bonds.

Footnotes

1. Shirley Ardener, A Note on Gender Iconography: The Vagina, 124


References

Ardener, Shirley (1987) "A Note on Gender Iconography: The Vagina" http://books.google.com.au/books?id=__cNAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA113&dq=A+Note+on+Gender+Iconography&lr=&sig=ACfU3U2Q1-yqG2phPMficUMZCbaYAczN0w (accessed 24th August 2008)

Brock, Dewey Hayward "The Culture of Biomedicine: Studies in Science and Culture" http://books.google.com.au/books?id=aq14DQ_H9j4C&printsec=frontcover&dq=the+culture+of+biomedicine&lr=&sig=ACfU3U1ZnCT7-hoRqUCqApGeNtjTIV28Wg#PPA70,M1 (accessed 23rd August 2008)

Caldwell, Janis McLarren "Literature and Medicine in Nineteeth-Century Britain: From Mary Shelley to George Eliot" http://books.google.com.au/books?id=yw_Neqf81XUC&printsec=toc&dq=literature+and+medicine+in+nineteenth&lr=&source=gbs_summary_s&cad=0 (accessed 26th August 2008)

Lupton, Deborah (2003) "Medicine as Culture: Illness, Disease and the Body in Western Societies" http://books.google.com.au/books?id=OYZTBcOwcGQC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Medicine+As+Culture&lr=&sig=ACfU3U3Yd-rSr7QYqeZDmqQAy8y-SJV0Tw#PPA22,M1 (accessed 24th August 2008)

Sawday, Jonathon (1995) "The Body Emblazoned: Dissection and the Human Body in Renaissance Culture" http://books.google.com.au/books?id=qXyavI6vVgMC&printsec=frontcover&dq=The+Body+Emblazoned&lr=&sig=ACfU3U2UEcnDsWBhBZ6cFQmisx23LRepsg#PPR5,M1 (accessed 26th August 2008)