Author Type

Graduate Student

Date of Award

2023

Document Type

Thesis

Publication Status

Version of Record

Submission Date

October 2026

Thesis/Dissertation Advisor [Chair]

Miller, Timothy

Abstract

Transgender identity and the concept of artificial intelligence are constructed and understood through dichotomies such as natural/unnatural and real/artificial, with each dichotomy informing the other; what is “unnatural” is often deemed to be a mimicry of the “natural,” therefore a false representation of what is “real.” By surveying various classic SF texts and their portrayal of AI characters through the lens of transgender studies—drawing upon scholars including Susan Stryker, Sandy Stone, and Florence Ashley—I assert that artificiality itself is a construction formed by cisnormative ideals and standards to exclude certain others (namely, transgender people) that requires reframing. I examine how these representations in works such as Richard Powers’s Galatea 2.2 reveal and articulate the constructed dichotomies and cultural narratives which surround transgender identity, as well as how contemporary, trans-authored works such as Annalee Newitz’s Autonomous can offer tools for responding to and reconfiguring those dichotomies.

Extent

80 p.

Comments

Includes bibliography.|Thesis (MA)--Florida Atlantic University, 2023.|FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection|Includes bibliography.

Identifier

FA00014196

Format

pdf

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