By Andreea Dascălu, University of Groningen - winner of the 2021 IASPM Popular Music Thesis Prize [BA]
In her 1985 seminal book, A Cyborg Manifesto, Donna Haraway presents a possible reality in which humans are to become cyborgs - human and machine hybrids - by the end of the late 20th century. She based her observations on the imminent breakdown of three boundaries, namely that between human beings and animals, organisms, and machines, and the physical and non-physical. Therefore, she brings forward the observation that not everything occurs within binary relations, such as man and woman or human and machine, but rather aspects often overlap, are fluid, intertwined, and not mutually exclusive. It is from this conceptual context that cyborg feminism takes form, representing a critique of traditional feminism.
Given Haraway’s still relevant critique of such binaries in contemporary audiovisual culture and her cyborg feminism theory, Janelle Monáe’s 2018 studio album, Dirty Computer, and the eponymous science-fiction film released alongside it could be argued to present the artist’s take on the cyborg takeover, anticipated by Haraway more than 30 years prior. However, besides the evident (Afro)futurism, found in both the sound and lyrics of the tracks, as well as the visuals and aesthetics of the film, Monáe takes a critical stance on race, feminism, and female sexuality. Through this, she enriches the notion of cyborg feminism, which, despite being developed and effectively theorized by Haraway, could benefit from the reworking of a woman of color, as better representative of an under-represented group within this theory, yet one highly visible within contemporary global popular culture, in this case, Monáe. Therefore, the concept of intersectionality becomes highly relevant in this analysis.
Janelle Monáe represents one of the most praised R&B artists of today, but her persistent commitment to representing her Black heritage and community, both as a person, as well as an artist, betrays the ways that her art affords forms of empowerment for her and her fans. Within her recent visual album, Monáe’s androgyny and constant play with gender norms, as well as with musical genres, invite greater analysis, when considering how Black female artists face not only the pressure of a scrutinizing music and media industry but also those hegemonic institutions antagonistic towards women of color in a white-centric world. Therefore, her relevance in the Black pop music sphere can be observed from a socio-critical standpoint, as Monáe has been an advocate for intersectional politics, but also from a musical perspective, her genre-bending and norms-defying work representing powerful examples of the “Black girl magic” trope powerfully transposed in music, which highlights excellence among Black women.
When it comes to the album itself, Dirty Computer is made up of fourteen tracks, with song titles such as “Take a Byte” and “Pynk” enacting a mashup between computers, operating on bytes, and human sexuality, especially female, which is a recurring theme. Moreover, each track presented in the film is tongue-in-cheek, alluding to an otherwise blatant critique of today’s discriminatory treatment of Black women, who often fall victim to hyper-sexualization by the white male gaze.
Additionally, the album employs a mix of genres, ranging from funk, rock and electronic to hip-hop and R&B, further reflecting the intersectionality of the album through the various musical elements specific to each genre. Such examples of sonic, lyrical, and aesthetic critique of the current socio-political climate of the (US) society highlight the influence of Donna Haraway’s A Cyborg Manifesto on Janelle Monáe’s work, as well as identify the biographical elements the artist uses in order to position her critical stances, either directly or incidentally.
At the same time, the action of the film, Dirty Computer, is set in a futuristic, dystopian world, in which standing out is firmly punished and conformity to the power (‘they’) ensures safety. Moreover, the plot focuses on the ‘cleaning center,’ where Monáe’s character is in the process of having her memory erased. A relevant aspect about this world consists also in the dichotomy between ‘dirty’ and ‘clean’, based on which people are divided, with the intent of creating a fully ‘clean’ population. However, in the context of the film and of Monáe’s discography, the term ‘clean’ can be understood as referring to being free from sexuality, be it in the form of needs, thoughts or emotions, thus connecting to Haraway’s genderless cyborgs.
Consequently, the analysis of Janelle Monáe’ Dirty Computer through the lens of Donna Haraway’s cyborg feminism adds value and credibility to this branch of feminism, as well as places it more realistically within the technologically developed and cyber networked world of the 21st century, about which Haraway could have only hypothesized at the time of writing the manifesto.
Andreea Dascălu
Andreea Dascălu graduated from University of Groningen in 2021, with a BA in Arts, Culture and Media (Music, Film, and Cultural Entrepreneurship). After graduation, she worked in PR and Marketing in the European music industry as a freelancer and is currently doing a traineeship in Bucharest, Romania at GroupM, a global media agency. Her research interests surround intersectionality, gender, and sexuality, focusing on how these reflect and are critiqued in popular music.
Complete thesis available here.