Beyond the Cyborg: Adventures with Donna Haraway

by Margret Grebowicz, Helen Merrick

Feminist theorist and philosopher Donna Haraway has substantially impacted thought on science, cyberculture, the environment, animals, and social relations. This long-overdue volume explores her influence on feminist theory and philosophy, paying particular attention to her more recent work on companion species, rather than her "Manifesto for Cyborgs."



Margret Grebowicz and Helen Merrick argue that the ongoing fascination with, and re-production of, the cyborg has overshadowed Haraway's extensive body of work in ways that run counter to her own transdisciplinary practices. Sparked by their own personal "adventures" with Haraway's work, the authors offer readings of her texts framed by a series of theoretical and political perspectives: feminist materialism, standpoint epistemology, radical democratic theory, queer theory, and even science fiction. They situate Haraway's critical storytelling and "risky reading" practices as forms of feminist methodology and recognize her passionate engagement with "naturecultures" as the theoretical core driving her work. Chapters situate Haraway as critic, theorist, biologist, feminist, historian, and humorist, exploring the full range of her identities and reflecting her commitment to embodying all of these modes simultaneously.

Genres: Feminism, Theory, Nonfiction, Feminist Theory

208 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 18, 2013

Reviews

[Jordan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The name drops, the Ant Book, the elaboration on feminist science fiction ~60-80, the insulting Foucault in the appendix. Yes <3

[Alice · Rating 3 out of 5]

Delirious from inhaling the heady vapors of Powell’s City of Books for a period of almost two hours, I wandered into the Women’s Studies aisle in an attempt to recapture the feeling of falling upon – quite by accident – J.K. Gibson-Graham’s “The End of Capitalism (as We Knew It): A Feminist Critique of Political Economy” 15 years earlier. Alas, it was not to be. Getting through many of these chapters was painful. There are some lucid bits where the authors engage with standpoint theory, but they are buried jewels within a muddy terrain of sloppy theory. Best to skip chapter four (“politics”) entirely. That said, two things redeem this book. The first is Donna Haraway’s “seedbag” chapter at the end. To quote:

“. . .we need to reseed our souls and our home worlds in order to flourish – again or many just for the first time – on a vulnerable planet that is not yet murdered. We need not just reseeding but also reinoculating with all the fermenting, fomenting, and nutrient-fixing associates seeds need to thrive. Recuperation is still possible, but only in multispecies alliance. . .”

The second is chapter six: Stories. I’d love to see that Grebowicz and Merrick might have written had they focused solely and entirely on Haraway’s engagement with feminist science fiction! I think that might have been a rather lovely read. In this chapter we hear their voices clearly for perhaps the first time, and “The Not-So-Secret History of Feminist SF” is a delight. The reading list alone that this chapter enables may have made the price of admission (slogging through the previous five chapters) of this book worth it.

[Pandaduh · Rating 4 out of 5]

I guess if you want to be sure you're not the only one who interprets Haraway the way you interpret Haraway, read this book.