Making Kin in the Catholithulucene

January 9, 2024 2:41 AM

"Some baby Jesuit who's into animal studies and science studies and feminist theory for some weird reason has been reading me," Haraway told EarthBeat.
posted by cupcakeninja (13 comments total)

That is a very deep and insightful reading of the Pope Francis letter, from a curious starting point via the author's lived experience. This is the first I've heard of Donna Haraway and I am immediately a fan.
posted by chavenet at 3:45 AM on January 9 [7 favorites]

Attack of the 50 Foot Eco-Cyborg-Feminist
posted by TedW at 3:52 AM on January 9 [11 favorites]

I remember reading Donna Haraway 20 years ago in my undergrad women's studies classes. Good times.
posted by wicked_sassy at 4:10 AM on January 9 [1 favorite]

At least more "baby Jesuits" would read her thoughts on population after this, as well as ecology, enviromentalism, etc.
posted by jeffburdges at 5:50 AM on January 9

This was fantastic, and thanks to this I am now aware that there is a weekly comic strip about Pope Francis.
posted by phooky at 6:07 AM on January 9 [6 favorites]

Thank you for this. I would have never found it oh my own.
posted by tofu_crouton at 6:42 AM on January 9 [1 favorite]

I opened this up wondering if she knew that "knowing things for some weird reason" is basically the unofficial Jesuit motto, but yeah, she absolutely does. What a thoughtful and deeply personally informed piece of critique.
posted by EvaDestruction at 7:23 AM on January 9 [5 favorites]

What a surprising point of connection. I'm glad Haraway shared her complex emotions around this, and that the author of the piece communicated them (it's so much easier in journalism to just boil things down to "person X is either pro- or anti- thing Y," as opposed to "person X has a collection of strongly contrasting opinions about thing Y, and here they are"). Now I want to go read When Species Meet. Thanks for sharing this!
posted by nightcoast at 8:21 AM on January 9 [5 favorites]

"Francis ... failed to adequately deal with the complexity of the population issue."

This is a key point in Haraway's recent writing. There's a strand about reducing population in _Staying with the Trouble_ where she tries to argue for reducing the human population without pressuring women, without empowering the religious right, and without dangerous tech.
posted by doctornemo at 10:23 AM on January 9 [4 favorites]

There's a strand about reducing population in _Staying with the Trouble_ where she tries to argue for reducing the human population without pressuring women, without empowering the religious right, and without dangerous tech.

That sounds promising. For the past few years, any attempt at a discussion of the immense impact of the sheer number of humans that now exist on the planet has too often been met with a chorus of people shouting "ECOFASCISM!" To me it has felt like buzzword-driven groupthink that has drowned out thoughtful dialogue.

The unavoidable fact is that the more of us there are, the easier it becomes for us to massively harm the biosphere in a very short time due to the unforeseen consequences of the sudden scaling up of new technologies, new products, new lifestyle trends, etc.

The fewer of us there are, the more time and space we have to correct our own mistakes before they inflict grave harm on the environment. Obviously it would be problematic to reduce our population via authoritarian methods, but not all initiatives to reduce population are automatically authoritarian.

Focusing back on the linked article, I found Haraway's comments about how her Catholic formation has informed her thought, despite her having long since left the church, fascinating. People are indeed complicated, and the most interesting people are often among the most complicated.
posted by Artifice_Eternity at 10:49 AM on January 9 [6 favorites]

Around vaguely these topics, replacement theory should become the term which describes the idea that adding renewables reduces fossil fuel consumption, when more likely renewables stimulate fossil fuel consumption. lol
posted by jeffburdges at 12:05 PM on January 9

Thank you for sharing this, very glad to know about it.

(Love, awe, and gratitude to the incomparable Donna Haraway!)
posted by marlys at 7:40 PM on January 9 [1 favorite]

This is lovely and I found it moving. It is not so often that I see people on my side of the aisle, as it were, talk about the process and the feelings of apostasy. Thanks for sharing.
posted by eirias at 4:27 AM on January 10 [2 favorites]