In this deeply personal yet intellectually groundbreaking work, Haraway develops the idea of companion species, those who meet and break bread together but not without some indigestion. A great deal is at stake in such meetings, she writes, and outcomes are not guaranteed. There is no assured happy or unhappy ending socially, ecologically, or scientifically. There is only the chance for getting on together with some grace.
Ultimately, she finds that respect, curiosity, and knowledge spring from animal-human associations and work powerfully against ideas about human exceptionalism.
One of the founders of the posthumanities, Donna J. Haraway is professor in the History of Consciousness Department at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Author of many books and widely read essays, including The Companion Species Manifesto: Dogs, People, and Significant Otherness” and the now-classic essay The Cyborg Manifesto, “she received the J. D. Bernal Prize in 2000, a lifetime achievement award from the Society for Social Studies in Science.”