Cyborg Caribbean

SAMUEL GINSBURG is an assistant professor of Spanish, comparative ethnic studies, and American studies at Washington State University’s School of Languages, Cultures, and Race.

"Timely and important. . . . [An] emphasis on revealing the political, cultural, and rhetorical consequences of technologies is at the heart of Ginsburg's impressive study throughout. A fascinating contribution to Caribbean studies, The Cyborg Caribbean ably shows why Caribbean authors are turning to science fiction to register the destructive power of capitalist imperialism and to imagine radically different ways of being human." (Technology and Culture) "By looking at the way Cuban, Puerto Rican, and Dominican authors and performers use sci-fi to assert a decolonizing, post-humanist critique of technology, Ginsburg looks at the ways these technologies have amplified the marginalization of certain bodies based on race, gender, sexuality, and/or disability. From plantation economies, energy and nuclear disasters, to torture, and contemporary zombie genres, The Cyborg Caribbean is a brilliant study of the temporalities of sci-fi genres and their politics in the Spanish Caribbean." - Jossianna Arroyo (author of Caribes 2.0: New Media, Globalization, and the Afterlives of Disaster) "Samuel Ginsburg’s fascinating study argues for the political potential of science fiction in the Hispanic Caribbean, showing how contemporary writers and artists use the genre to illuminate technology’s role in repressive power structures in the region. Deftly tracing the presence of technologies ranging from electroconvulsive therapy to nuclear weapons to cybernetic avatars, Ginsburg’s analysis reveals the ways in which science fiction is itself a tool for both highlighting technology’s destructive effects on Caribbean bodies imagining things otherwise." - Emily A. Maguire (author of Racial Experiments in Cuban Literature and Ethnography) "An exciting contribution to Caribbean studies, this book shows how Cuban, Dominican, and Puerto Rican authors envision alternative lifeforms and personhood. Informed by a deep understanding of cyborg theory and posthumanism and a rigorous historical contextualization, The Cyborg Caribbean offers a fascinating look into all kinds of possible futures." - Antonio Córdoba (co-editor of Posthumanism and Latin(x) American Science Fiction)

• Introduction: Broadcasting Resistance 1 Electroconvulsive Therapy: Treatment, Torture,and Electrified Bodies2 Nuclear Weapons: Missiles, Radiation,and Archives3 Space Exploration and Colonial Alienation4 Disruptive Avatars and the Decoding ofCaribbean CyberspaceConclusion: New Caribbean Futures AcknowledgmentsNotesWorks CitedIndex