Symbiotic Subjectivities and Posthuman Cartography of Identity in Iftikhar’s Divided Species and Chambers’ The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet

Abstract

In this paper, the authors discuss Iftikhar’s Divided Species and Chambers’ The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet in the light of Hayles’ How We Became Posthuman: Virtual Bodies in Cybernetics, Literature, and Informatics. This paper advocates for a version of posthumanism that promotes long-time and peaceful coexistence of biological, artificial, and human life in the universe by highlighting inclusivity, diversity, and interspecies cohabitation in a technologically driven society. It focuses on identity, fragmented embodiment, distributed consciousness, and the symbiotic relationship between humans, artificial intelligence, and other species, as well as the challenges they face in adaptation of identity in a digitally saturated environment, with reference to human and nonhuman beings. With the combination of fantastic and realistic elements, Divided Species portrays unstable identity empathy, greed, interspecies conflict, xenophobia, and societal influences on career choices in a multispecies environment, ultimately revealing transformative power and culminating in a profound understanding of harmony and interspecies symbiosis. Similarly, The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet a social commentary about identity, belonging, family, community, trauma, grief, healing, diversity, inclusiveness, personal growth, self-discovery, and existential dilemmas chronicles the adventures of a multispecies crew on board the spacecraft Wayfarer as they travel to a far-off planet to negotiate a peace treaty. It presents a posthuman society based on cooperation and crosscultural interaction. The protagonist, Rosemary flees a difficult background and learns to live and grow as a person in multispecies crew. This study includes elements that vary from previous science fiction writings and represents a big transition in science fiction genre. Divided Species’ setting of modern Karachi, a Pakistani metropolis, decenters western hegemony, and The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet decenters imperialistic space exploration. This paper emphasizes cross-cultural understanding and information exchange among species, revealing the global scope of human and posthuman development.