POSTHUMAN SUBJECTIVITY AND THE ILLUSION OF AUTONOMY IN NEWITZ’S AUTONOMOUS

Abstract

This research examines Annalee Newitz’s Autonomous novel through the theoretical lens of posthuman feminism, focusing on the intersections of cyborg identity, autonomy, bio-capitalism, and human–machine hybridity. Set within a dystopian future governed by pharmaceutical monopolies and technological capitalism, the novel problematizes traditional humanist assumptions regarding identity, agency, embodiment, and subjectivity. Drawing upon the posthuman theories of Donna Haraway and Rosi Braidotti, the study critically investigates how the novel destabilizes binary distinctions between human and machine, natural and artificial, gender and technology. Furthermore, the study explores how Autonomous critiques bio-capitalist systems that commodify bodies, emotions, pharmaceuticals, and artificial intelligence, through close textual analysis and interdisciplinary engagement with posthumanism, feminist theory. This research argues that Newitz reconstructs subjectivity as relational, hybrid, and technologically mediated. Ultimately, the study demonstrates that Autonomous functions as a powerful critique of neoliberal capitalism and anthropocentric ideology while reimagining identity, embodiment, and ethical agency within the posthuman condition.