Becoming Human: Exploring ‘Nomadic Subjectivity’ in Kazuo Ishiguro’s Klara and the Sun (2021)

Abstract

Our contemporary time is assaulted with crises that reveal itself to us in urgency. In a rapidly technologised world, there is an
ontological shift concerning the identity formation of humans since the boundaries between the human and the artificial are becoming
increasingly nebulous in the postmodern time. The presence of various simulacra further complicates the existential notion of
identity, especially because algorithmic systems are improving at emulating humans. Against this epistemological upheaval, Kazuo
Ishiguro in Klara and the Sun (2021) asks compelling questions about identity and the changing human condition. While existing
scholarship on the novel predominantly addresses the machine question, research on nonhuman subjectivity and identity is lacking.
This article bridges this gap by examining the novel through Rosi Braidotti’s concept of the nomadic subject, arguing that Klara’s
identity is fluid and continually evolving, embodying a transformative approach to subjectivity in the posthuman era.