The New Normal by Gabriella Håkansson

Article Brief

Sports & cybernetics

January 14 2008 the IAAF decided that the South African runner Oscar Pistorius was not allowed to enter the Summer Olympics. But May 16 the same year the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled that his prostheses was not to stop him from being a part of the contest in the Olympics regarding who is the fastest man in the world.

A story written from a posthumanism/cybernetic perspective. What is (a) human? What is a prothesis? What implications do the cybernetic organism, a hybrid of machine and organism have on the future of sport?

Reading List

Pistorius, O 2010, Blade Runner, Ulverscroft Large Print Books.
Oscar Pistorius Website <http://www.oscarpistorius.com/>
‘Oscar Pistorius’ The 2008 TIME 100. <http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/article/0,28804,1733748_1733756_1735285,00.html>
Paralympic Sport TV, Oscar Pistorius: Getting Back on Track. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKNeOttyAsk>
Scheck & Siress: Expert Commentary on Oscar Pistorius, May 18, 2008. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iofFfiH6MLA>
OSCAR PISTORIUS Just Do It .<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3W-vfQPN6rQ>
Nike: The Bad Listener.<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctPg-gbjIS0&feature=player_embedded>
‘South Africa’s ‘Bladerunner’’, AlJazeera English, Jul 09, 2007. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d17vqoH9Xfs&feature=player_embedded>
Miah, A 2003, ‘Be Very Afraid: Cyborg Athletes, Transhuman Ideals & Posthumanity’ Journal of Evolution & Technology, vol.13, no.2.
Miah, A 2007, ‘Posthumanism: A Critical History’ Gordijn, B. & Chadwick, R. (2007) Medical Enhancements &. Posthumanity, Gordjin, B & Chadwick, R (writs), Routledge, New York.
Miah, A 2004, Genetically modified athletes: biomedical ethics, gene doping and sport, Routledge, New York.
Wolbring, G 2008, ‘Oscar Pistorius and the Future Nature of Olympic, Paralympic and Other Sports.’ ScriptEd 5, no. 1, p. 139-60.
Badmington, N 2003, ‘Theorizing Posthumanism’ Cultural Critique 53, Winter, p. 11-27.
Foucault, M 1974/2004, ‘The Crisis of Medicine or the Crisis of Antimedicine?’ Foucault Studies, no.1, p. 5-19.
Gane, N & Haraway, D 2006, ‘When We Have Never Been Human, What Is to Be Done: Interview with Donna Haraway’ Theory, Culture and Society 23, p.135-158.
Haraway, D 1991, ‘A Cyborg Manifesto: Science, Technology, and Socialist-Feminism in the Late Twentieth Century’ Simians, Cyborgs, and Women: The Reinvention of Nature, Routledge, New York, p. 149-181. <http://www.stanford.edu/dept/HPS/Haraway/CyborgManifesto.html>
Blade Runner 1982, Scott, R (dir.), Fancher, H & Peoples, D W (writs.), Dick, P K ( ref.”Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?”), Ford, H , Hauer, R & Young, S (perf.), Warner Bros.