From Separation to Symbiosis: Analyzing Sufia Humayun’s Short Fiction from Shattered Echoes through Haraway’s Cyborg Lens

Abstract

This paper analyzes Humayun’s (2024) Under the Currents through Haraway’s (1985) cyborg lens. The short story is taken from her anthology of short stories, Shattered Echoes, published in 2024. The study examines the increasing interdependence between human and machine. While posthumanism questions the concept of human sovereignty and independence, the human-machine relationship in Pakistani science fiction is less explored. The study uses Haraway’s (1985) cyborg lens as a theoretical framework and McKee’s (2003) textual analysis method to make a qualitative close reading of selected text excerpts from the story. The analysis focuses on how the characters have merged boundaries with the machine. The characters interact with the device “Vision-O” and the device notices characters’ subtle gestures such as grief and tears. The device controls human emotions, memories, and physical situations. The findings illustrate that the boundaries between human and machine have been dissolved completely in Under the Currents. It also depicts that machines have become disturbingly lively and humans have become frighteningly inert. The agency of the characters in the story is controlled by technology. Characters and machines are inseparable; the characters even use technology in the absence of a device, which shows that they have become cyborgs. This study shows what it means to live in a world where humans have lost control of their own agency and emotions. This study adds to critical posthumanism and Pakistani science fiction.