In ‘A Cyborg Manifesto’, Dona Haraway states that the boundary between man and nature has been thoroughly breached. Haraway asserts “… many people no longer feel the need for separation [of Humans and Nature]”(Haraway 293). Haraway is trying to say that as time goes on the boundary that separated man from nature is slowly disappearing and that this is not a bad thing. Haraway would feel that The Greek Tree is a perfect representation of this unity between man and nature. She would say that because the students have painted the tree and made it a landmark of Geneseo, they have protected it from any future harm that may come to it. Haraway would believe that the distinction between man and nature is hard to see and that this is one step closer for us to realize that we are cyborgs in this world.
In We Have Never Been Modern, Bruno Latour discusses how newspaper articles that are written are distinguished into one category or another. However, a lot of the articles are hybrids. For example, an article about the ozone layer involves both science and politics. Yet the fragile thread that connects several different fields of study will be broken. However to be a modern society we must retie the Gordian knot.
I believe that the Greek Tree is a good example of what Latour discusses in his article. The Greek Tree is a blend the natural world and the social world into one. However people will try to distinguish it into one category or another instead of realizing that it is a blend of both.
Can nature be man-made? William Cronon argues in his essay, The Trouble with Wilderness, that the wilderness is “the creation of very particular human cultures”. Cronon talks about how at first the word nature had a very negative connotations because in Biblical times the wilderness is where satan tried his best to force Moses and countless others to give into their temptations. However, there was a turn in attitude of the frontier because of the sublime and the frontier. Writers expressed their awe for nature in different ways, but they were all referring to nature as a cathedral. He then goes to explain how the wilderness is slowly being destroyed and that the only way to save it is for human intervention.
This is the case with The Greek Tree. The students may not have realized it while they were painting the tree but by making it a Geneseo landmark, they have saved the tree from being cut down and used for human needs in the future.
In A Cyborg Manifesto, Donna Haraway introduces three important boundaries that are broken. The first boundary is between man and animals. Haraway says that there is nothing that distinctly separates humans and animals and in fact people don’t even feel there is a need for separation. This is why Haraway says this boundary has been “thoroughly breached”. The second and third boundaries are between man and machine and the physical and non-physical. In the past a machine “could not achieve man’s dream, only mock it”. However, with all the advances in technology and uses of these items in everyday life, these boundaries have been broken. She then goes on about how although all these different barriers have been overcome yet, humans still use gender and race as boundaries between humans. Haraway’s idea of the boundary between humans and the natural world becoming more and more ambiguous is exactly what the mini essay of The Greek Tree is about.
As an incoming freshman exploring the new campus of SUNY Geneseo, I noticed the wildly painted blue tree in front of Sturges Quad. I later found out during orientation that this was called the Greek Tree because its given a makeover by several Greek organizations on campus. A closer look shows a colorful array of paint chipping on the bed of the tree, ants scurrying from one place to another and cobwebs protected from the harsh elements.
When I visited the tree again for the purposes of this assignment, what caught my eyes this time were not the words “Geneseo’s Got the Goods” or “Welcome New Students” but a hole in the tree. I thought this must the the home for many of the squirrels on campus. Do these squirrels notice that there home gets a new coat of paint every year? Do they care? These were just a few of the questions that went through my mind. This got me to think of how human can interact with nature without being destructive.
To a lot of people this tree represents an a harmless prank. To me this tree is proof that humans can live in harmony with nature. Instead of chopping down this tree that is a home and shelter for many different animals, students of Geneseo came together and made it a tradition to keep this tree painted colorfully. This represents the first step to preserving nature for years to come.
