Ectogenesis and Mother as Machine

Abstract

The paper addresses the often neglected nexus between mother and machine, through the histories of the ideas of "ectogenesis" and "cybernetic organism". A discussion of Smith-Windsor's maternal experience as a cyborg-mother is complicated by Canguilhem's reading of machine as a human organ. This is followed by an evaluation of feminist writings of reproductive technologies of "other wombs" (artificial, animal, human) leading on to a discussion on why the critical dichotomy between "maternal body" and "machine" needs to be re-evaluated, to develop the possibility of a different ethics of/for the maternal body.