Beyond the Cyborg: Adventures with Donna Haraway

217 Pages·2013·1.089 MB·English

by  Margret Grebowicz, Helen Merrick

BEYOND THE CYBORG
ADVENTURES WITH DONNA HARAWAY
MARGRET GREBOWICZ AND HELEN MERRICK
with a “seed bag”
by Donna Haraway
Beyond the CyBorg

Beyond the CyBorg
Adventures with donnA hArAwAy
Margret greBowiCz and helen MerriCk
with a “seed bag” by donna haraway
Columbia University Press New York
Columbia University Press
Publishers Since Since 1893
New York Chichester, West Sussex
cup.columbia.edu
Copyright © 2013 Columbia University Press
All rights reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Grebowicz, Margret, 1973–
Beyond the cyborg: adventures with Donna Haraway / Margret Grebowicz and
Helen Merrick; with a “seed bag” by Donna Haraway.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-231-14928-0 (cloth: alk. paper) —ISBN 978-0-231-14929-7 (pbk.:
alk. paper) —ISBN 978-0-231-52073-7 (e-book)
1. Haraway, Donna Jeanne. 2. Feminists. 3. Feminist theory. 4. Feminist criticism.
5. Science—Social aspects. 6. Technology—Social aspects. I. Merrick, Helen.
II. Haraway, Donna Jeanne. III. Title.
HQ1413.H374G74 2013
305.42—dc23 2012041471
Columbia University Press books are printed on permanent
and durable acid-free paper.
This book is printed on paper with recycled content.
Printed in the United States of America
c 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
p 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Cover/jacket design: Rosalyn Migdal
References to Web sites (URLs) were accurate at the time of
writing. Neither the author nor Columbia University Press
is responsible for URLs that may have expired or changed
since the manuscript was prepared.
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments vii
1. Adventures with Haraway 1
2. Natures 22
3. Knowledges 48
4. Politics 77
5. Ethics 95
6. Stories 112
Sowing Worlds: A Seed Bag for Terraforming
with Earth Others 137
donna haraway
Appendix: Some Bibliometric Notes 147
Notes 165
Bibliography 181
Index 195

acknowledgments
Margret thanks first of all the people whose subtle but unwavering sup-
port accompanied the unglamorous labor of writing: Johanna Oksala for
her keen eye for infrastructure and those home-cooked dinners that got
me through one Scottish winter, my brother Maciej for his enthusiasm
and interest, Lia Litosseliti and Max Lents for always remembering to ask
about it, and my parents, as always, for everything. I thank the Philosophy
Department at University of Dundee for inviting me to do my research
there and the Philosophy Department at Goucher College for allowing
me to stay away for as long as it took to finish. Support for research and
writing time was provided by Goucher College and the Leverhulme Trust.
Helen would like to thank Katie King, whose practical and intellectual
support for this project (and indeed my work in general) is greatly appre-
ciated. Support for research and writing time was provided through grants
from the Faculty of Humanities, Curtin University. Thanks also to Ted
Mitew, Em McAvan, and Kandace Mavrick for their research assistance
and to my Information Studies colleague Gaby Haddow for invaluable
viii acknowledgments
advice and chats about bibliometrics. Finally thanks go to my parents,
Anne and Geoff Merrick, for all those days of childcare and meals that
enabled me to get on with writing; to Alisdair and Julia for putting up
with too many nights and weekends when Mum was always at the com-
puter; and to Stewart, for giving me the space, time and support I needed
to write this book.
Together we thank our reviewers, whose careful reading, suggestions,
and critique were an immense help in the writing and rewriting of the
book. Most importantly, we thank Donna Haraway. We have been privi-
leged to be the recipients of her well-known academic and intellectual
generosity as she read and responded to our work and finally wrote the
contribution that appears here. Ideas in this book have appeared previ-
ously in Margret Grebowicz (2010), “When Species Meat: Confronting
Bestiality Pornography.” Humanimalia 1:2, as well as Margret Grebowicz
(2007), “Feminist Science Studies After Lyotard: Dissensus, Knowledge,
and Responsibility” and Margret Grebowicz and Emily Zakin (2007),
“On Promising and Destructive Monsters: Reading Lyotard’s ‘She,’” both
in Margret Grebowicz, ed., Gender After Lyotard (Albany: SUNY Press).
Beyond the CyBorg