The Cybercultures Reader Cybercultures:from internet discussion groups to interactive cyberart;from Captain America to Modem Boy;from identity-play to community-building;from hackers to cyborgs... The Cybercultures Reader brings together key writings in the exciting new interdisciplinary field of cyberculture studies,providing in one volume a comprehensive guide to the ways in which new technologies are reshaping cultural forms and practices in the new millennium. Articles by leading cybercultural critics including Donna Haraway,Andrew Ross,Stelarc, Sadie Plant,Arthur and Marilouise Kroker,and Arturo Escobar are structured into thematic sections,addressing: introductions approaching cyberculture popular cybercultures cybersubcultures cyberfeminisms cybersexual cyberbodies post [cyber]bodies scaling cyberspaces cybercolonization Key features of the Reader include: A general introduction by the editors to the study of cyberculture A user's guide to the Reader Introductions to each thematic section,locating the articles in their theoretical and technological contexts A full bibliography of cybertexts Contributors:Anne Balsamo,Graham Barwell,Michael Benedikt,Kate Bowles,Gareth Branwyn,Scott Bukatman,Lisa Cartwright,Susan Clerc,Mark Dery,Arturo Escobar,Mike Featherstone,Thomas Foster,Jennifer Gonzalez,Diana Gromala,Donna Haraway,Arthur Kroker,Marilouise Kroker,Alison Landsberg,Timothy Leary,Deborah Lupton,Ananda Mitra,Lisa Nakamura,Mark Oehlert,Michael Ostwald,Sadie Plant,Forest Pyle,Kevin Robins,Andrew Ross,Chela Sandoval,Ziauddin Sardar,Vivian Sobchack,Claudia Springer, Judith Squires,Susan Leigh Star,Stelarc,Allucquere Rosanne Stone,Jon Stratton,Susan Stryker,Tiziana Terranova,Richard Thieme,David Tomas,Daniel Tsang,Nina Wakeford, Deena Weinstein,Michael Weinstein,Shawn P.Wilbur,Michele Willson,Randal Woodland, Susan Zickmund. The Editors:David Bell is Senior Lecturer in Cultural Studies and Barbara M.Kennedy is Senior Lecturer in Film and Cultural Studies at Staffordshire University
The Cybercultures Reader Edited by David Bell and Barbara M.Kennedy R London and New York
First published 2000 by Routledge 11 New Fetter Lane,London EC4P 4EE Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 29 West 35th Street,New York,NY 10001 Reprinted 2001 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor&Francis Group 2000 David Bell and Barbara M.Kennedy for selection and editorial matter Typeset in Bembo by Florence Production Ltd, Stoodleigh,Devon Printed and bound in Great Britain by T.J.International, Padstow,Cornwall All rights reserved.No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic,mechanical,or other means,now known or hereafter invented,including photocopying and recording,or in any information storage or retrieval system,without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book has been requested ISBN0-415-18378-2(HB) ISBN0-415-18379-0(PB)
Contents Illustrations xiii Notes on contributors xiv Acknowledgements xxii INTRODUCTIONS i David Bell CYBERCULTURES READER:A USER'S GUIDE 1 ii Barbara Kennedy THE VIRTUAL MACHINE'AND NEW BECOMINGS IN PRE-MILLENNIAL CULTURE 13 PART ONE Approaching cyberculture David Bell INTRODUCTION 25 1.Michael Benedikt CYBERSPACE:FIRST STEPS 29 2.Shawn P.Wilbur AN ARCHAEOLOGY OF CYBERSPACES:VIRTUALITY, COMMUNITY,IDENTITY 45
vi CONTENTS 3.Arturo Escobar WELCOME TO CYBERIA:NOTES ON THE ANTHROPOLOGY OF CYBERCULTURE 56 4.Kevin Robins CYBERSPACE AND THE WORLD WE LIVE IN 77 5.Arthur Kroker and Marilouise Kroker CODE WARRIORS:BUNKERING IN AND DUMBING DOWN 96 PART TWO popular cybercultures Barbara Kennedy INTRODUCTION 107 6.Mark Oehlert FROM CAPTAIN AMERICA TO WOLVERINE:CYBORGS IN COMIC BOOKS:ALTERNATIVE IMAGES OF CYBERNETIC HEROES AND VILLAINS 112 7.Forest Pyle MAKING CYBORGS,MAKING HUMANS:OF TERMINATORS AND BLADE RUNNERS 124 8.Vivian Sobchack NEW AGE MUTANT NINJA HACKERS:READING MONDO 2000 138 9.Scott Bukatman TERMINAL PENETRATION 149 10.David Tomas THE TECHNOPHILIC BODY:ON TECHNICITY IN WILLIAM GIBSON'S CYBORG CULTURE 175 11.Alison Landsberg PROSTHETIC MEMORY:TOTAL RECALL AND BLADE RUNNER 190