Visceral Prostheses: Somatechnics and Posthuman Embodiment

Visceral Prostheses proposes new understandings of the limits and possible extensions of posthuman embodiment, focusing on prostheses and visceral organic prostheses. It challenges the western understanding of the singular self and welcomes a new understanding of the human. Ebook editions are available open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence on bloomsburycollections.com.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 272 pages
Publication date: 19 October 2023
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC

The postmodern era presents a complex landscape where the boundaries between bodies, biologies, and technologies are increasingly blurred, challenging our understanding of what constitutes human existence. In this context, Margrit Shildrick's open access book, "Visceral Prostheses: The Limits and Possibilities of Posthuman Embodiment," offers a fresh perspective on the nature of prostheses and their impact on human embodiment. Shildrick broadens our understanding of prostheses by exploring their role in rehabilitation devices used by disabled individuals to replace or augment impaired body parts. However, she goes beyond traditional prostheses to introduce the concept of visceral organic prostheses, which encompass any cellular material that cannot be identified with the self. This includes organ transplantation, microchimerism, and the microbiome, which extend the boundaries of the embodied self beyond genetic singularity. Shildrick's book challenges the traditional origin narratives that focus on "host and "guest and "self and "other" and instead examines the transformative possibilities that prostheses offer. By examining the ways in which prostheses extend the nature of the embodied self, Shildrick argues that bodies with prostheses should no longer be viewed as irregular forms of normative embodiment but as limit cases of a common experience. This challenges the western understanding of the singular self and opens up a new understanding of the human. The ebook editions of "Visceral Prostheses: The Limits and Possibilities of Posthuman Embodiment" are available open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence on bloomsburycollections.com, making it accessible to a wide audience.

Dimension: 234 x 156 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781350224940