(Post)human Subjects, Disability Deployments

Abstract

Chapter One concentrates on recent theoretical writings on disability and posthumanism and also explores the intellectual spaces in which the subjects take shape, before moveing to a discussion of how these come together in select science fiction films. Disability Studies and critical posthumanism have much in common; a critique of humanist norms; a recognition of complex embodiment; and a commitment to intersectionality and inclusive practice among them. But they also harbour suspicions of one another. The most important divergence between the two subject areas comes in arguments surrounding transhumanism. Transhumanist assertions that the application of future technology will allow for bodily and neurological enhancement, and the ‘improvement’ of humans as a result, are met with hostility by many with disabilities who see in them suggestions that disability is a condition that might, and indeed should, be eradicated in a science-led drive towards ‘perfection’. The chapter will explore these and other debates, especially as they form around cultural representations and the ways stories are told about the bodies and technologies of the future.