Donna Haraway

Donna Haraway
Institutions	University of California, Santa Cruz
Nationality	American
Known for	Posthumanism; Situated knowledges; Cyborg theory
Fields	Philosophy of science; STS; Feminist theory
Main interests	Feminist science; Science and technology studies; Multispecies relations
Notable works	A Cyborg Manifesto; Primate Visions; Staying with the Trouble
Occupations	Philosopher; Biologist
Birth year	1944
Wikidata	Q253407

Donna Haraway (born 1944) is an American scholar and feminist theorist celebrated for her original ideas about science, technology, and society. She gained fame with the 1985 essay “A Cyborg Manifesto”, which used the image of a cyborg (a human–machine hybrid) to challenge settled divisions like nature/culture and male/female. Haraway’s writing emphasizes that knowledge is always situated in a particular context – there is no neutral “view from nowhere.” In later work such as Staying with the Trouble (2016), she extended her thinking to ecology, urging people to form new kinds of kinship (“making oddkin”) with other species and technologies. Her thought has shaped fields from science & technology studies to environmental humanities, even as critics note her style can be dense or metaphorical.

Early life and education

Donna Jeanne Haraway was born in Denver, Colorado in 1944. She grew up in a Catholic family and excelled in science and literature. Haraway majored in zoology (with philosophy and English minors) at Colorado College, then studied biology and evolutionary philosophy in Paris on a Fulbright scholarship. She earned her Ph.D. in biology at Yale University in 1972, writing a dissertation on how metaphors shape scientific research. This blend of science and humanities would mark her later work. After graduate school, Haraway taught at the University of Hawaiʻi and Johns Hopkins University. In 1980 she became a professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz, where she helped establish feminist studies and science/technology studies programs. She was one of the first scholars in the U.S. to hold a tenured position explicitly in feminist theory of science.

Major works and ideas

Haraway’s scholarship spans many books and essays. Her core themes challenge traditional categories and call for broader forms of relationship across humans, animals, and machines. Key contributions include:

Cyborg feminism: In “A Cyborg Manifesto” (1985), Haraway used the cyborg – a creature made of parts human and machine – as a metaphor to break down rigid boundaries. She argued that categories like “female” or “male,” “nature” or “culture” are not ontological truths but political constructs. A cyborg identity refuses these dualisms, suggesting new feminist politics based on affinity (shared goals) rather than shared biology. This helped launch feminist science studies by urging women to embrace technology and forge alliances beyond traditional identity groups.
Situated knowledges: In a 1988 essay “Situated Knowledges: The Science Question in Feminism”, Haraway introduced this concept to critique scientific objectivity. She attacked what she called the “god trick” – the idea that a scientist can see everything from nowhere, as if omnipotent. Instead, Haraway said all knowledge comes from a specific perspective. She wrote that feminist objectivity is about “limited location”, being accountable for one’s standpoint. In practice, this means acknowledging that any observer’s social position (gender, class, culture, etc.) shapes how they see the world. She urged science to be more transparent about these biases and to view the world as a partner in dialogue rather than a passive object to control.
Critique of anthropocentrism: Throughout her work, Haraway challenges the idea (called anthropocentrism) that humans are the center of moral and scientific concern. In Staying with the Trouble (2016), she instead uses terms like “Chthulucene” to name our era – highlighting tentacle-like (from chthonic, meaning underworld/earth) connections among humans, animals, plants, and machines. She coined phrases such as “tentacular thinking” to remind us that life is a web of relations, not a hierarchy with humans on top. In this view, survival depends on “making oddkin” – forming unexpected kinships across species lines (for example, humans with microbes, dogs, or even robots). She often speaks of humans as part of the humus (soil) that sustains life, hinting with wordplay that we are made of humus and live on compost. This imagery underscores her belief that we are physically and ethically intertwined with the more-than-human world.
Animal and multimedia relations: Haraway has also explored how humans relate to other animals and media. In Primate Visions (1989), she examined how biases of race and gender influenced scientific studies of primates. In When Species Meet (2008) and The Companion Species Manifesto (2003), she studied dogs and other domestic animals as co-evolutionary partners. She argued that pets and other animals are not just passive “others” but companions in storytelling and biology – shaping who we are. These works helped found fields like animal studies and “companion-species” studies, showing that human identity partly forms through relationships with animals.
Science, technology, and culture: Across her writings (in books like ModestWitness@SecondMillennium (1997)), Haraway analyzes real scientific texts and technologies with a feminist lens. She shows how lab practices (for instance, the creation of the genetically engineered OncoMouse) reflect power, profit, and gender politics. Haraway is known for coining the “Modest Witness” persona: a scientist who pretends neutrality but often serves capitalist goals, in contrast to a truly modest, self-aware observer. In these studies, she combines factual analysis with sharp critique, linking each technological development to broader social narratives.

Method

Haraway’s research style is unconventional and interdisciplinary. She blends biology, history, literary theory, and feminist thought rather than sticking to one method. Important aspects of her approach include:

Interdisciplinary analysis: Haraway reads scientific papers, myths, and cultural artifacts side by side. She treats science as a cultural practice, examining the stories and metaphors scientists use (for example, asking why breaking genes into parts is described as “cutting”). By doing this, she shows how scientific knowledge is influenced by society, gender, and economics. Her Ph.D. work itself looked at metaphors in developmental biology, setting the stage for this approach.
Metaphor and narrative: Rather than dry argumentation, Haraway often uses vivid metaphors and storytelling. The cyborg, the parable of the Modest Witness, and descriptions of “hot compost piles” are not just colorful imagery but thought experiments. This style, sometimes called speculative fabulation, invites readers to imagine alternative futures and forms of life. She might illustrate a point with science fiction examples or personal anecdotes. This makes her writing rich and engaging but also idiosyncratic.
Reflexivity and perspective: In line with her idea of situated knowledges, Haraway writes with explicit awareness of her own position. She often acknowledges her background (as a woman academic in science) and the limits of her viewpoint. She rejects the pretense of a neutral “view from nowhere.” Some works even mix academic text with the author’s voice or personal story, emphasizing that the reader always gets a human perspective.
Activist scholarship: Although Haraway is primarily a theorist, she sees her work as politically engaged. She collaborates with other scholars (such as exchanges with feminist philosopher Lynn Randolph) and participates in movements like disability rights and ecological justice. Her writing often aims to support social change – for example, by encouraging women to enter science or by critiquing corporate biotech. Rather than pure abstraction, many of her essays and books answer real-world issues (climate change, biotechnology, capitalism) in imaginative ways.

Influence

Donna Haraway’s ideas have had wide impact in academia and beyond:

Academic scholarship: Haraway is considered a founding figure in feminist science and technology studies (STS). Her 1985 manifesto helped shape this field by linking feminist politics with technoculture. Students read her essays in courses on feminist theory, anthropology, cultural studies, and environmental humanities worldwide. Her concept of situated knowledge is taught in philosophy and science courses as a classic example of feminist epistemology. Many scholars in new materialism and posthumanism build on Haraway’s work to explore how matter and biology are active, not just social constructs. In animal studies and environmental studies, her critiques of human/nature separation motivate research on multispecies communities.
Cultural and artistic impact: Haraway’s metaphors resonate beyond academia. Artists, writers, and designers often cite her cyborg and kinship ideas. For instance, a mainstream technology magazine once ran a feature titled “You Are Cyborg,” reflecting her influence on popular tech culture. In 2017 ArtReview magazine named her one of the top five most influential people in the art world, saying her work had become part of the art world’s “DNA.” Contemporary art exhibits on science and ecology frequently reference concepts like “tentacular thinking” and “making kin.” Even science fiction authors and graphic novelists have acknowledged drawing on her vision of cyborg futures or companion species.
Tech and activism: Haraway’s ideas helped inspire the cyberfeminist movement of the 1990s and 2000s, in which women used online media and tech culture to challenge gender norms. Her emphasis on networks and alliances has influenced digital rights and hacktivist communities. Environmental activists also invoke her work; for example, groups concerned with climate justice use her term “Plantationocene” to highlight links between colonial plantations and the climate crisis. Her call to “stay with the trouble” (face problems rather than deny them) has been taken up in ecological and social justice circles as a motto for engaged activism.
Interdisciplinary dialogues: Beyond specific fields, Haraway is admired for crossing boundaries. She has influenced anthropologists, geographers (through her work on dog-human relations and compost farming), sociologists, and even computer scientists thinking about artificial intelligence and robotics. Her insistence on pluralism and complexity feeds current debates on globalization and biopolitics. Throughout, Haraway remains a reference point in any discussion about how humans relate to the nonhuman – whether through breeding dogs, cloning cows, or interacting with AI.

Critiques

Haraway’s work is widely discussed but not without controversy. Critics raise several recurring points:

Dense style: Many readers find her writing opaque or overly academic. Haraway gladly uses complex language, jargon, and playful metaphors. Readers and reviewers often note that her essays are “difficult to read” or impenetrable without background in theory. For example, sociologist Jackie Orr remarked that graduate students found the Cyborg Manifesto wordy and slightly bewildering. Some see this as intentional (Haraway once said her openness to many interpretations can make her hard to pin down), while others simply find it frustrating that her key insights are buried in poetic and ironic prose.
Scientific rigor: Scholars in the natural sciences have occasionally challenged Haraway’s grasp of empirical methods. Her books Primate Visions and《When Species Meet》 drew criticism from some primatologists for being “partisan” or for privileging narrative over data. Two scientific journals published dismissive reviews of Primate Visions in 1990–1991, arguing that she misrepresented field methods and left little solid conclusion. In short, some scientists feel she sometimes mistakes ideology for analysis. Haraway’s response is that all science is influenced by politics; critics counter that this can sometimes lead to overgeneralizing or misreading specialized knowledge.
Political debates: Within feminism and the political left, there are mixed reactions. Traditional feminists who have focused on women’s collective rights were unsettled by the cyborg’s denial of a common female essence. Haraway bluntly states “there is nothing about being ‘female’ that naturally binds women,” which some saw as undermining feminist solidarity. Some Marxist or socialist thinkers felt her manifesto was too optimistic about technology’s role, calling it a “naïve embrace of technology.” In leftist journals at the time, some editors warned against publishing the manifesto, worried it might weaken class analysis. More generally, critics wonder whether Haraway’s emphasis on fluid identities and interconnectedness comes at a cost: perhaps it blurs issues like economic exploitation or racism. For example, environmentalists have asked whether imagining tentacular webs truly addresses urgent issues like pollution, or if it risks becoming only metaphor. Haraway acknowledges these tensions; she argues her metaphors are meant to open space for new alliances rather than to provide concrete policy.
Ethical ambiguity: Some readers have noted a lack of clear ethical stance. Haraway often rejects absolute moral rules: in Cyborg Manifesto she suggested that in a cyborg world there may be no fixed “good,” only contested values. This leaves her readers without firm guidance on right and wrong, which some find unsettling. Scholars like IST technology feminist Judy Wajcman point out that Haraway’s open style is deliberate, inviting multiple interpretations, but others worry this ambiguity can let readers take from her what they will. Put simply, Haraway rarely spells out direct solutions, so critics sometimes feel her work highlights problems better than it solves them.

Overall, supporters value Haraway for asking hard questions and inspiring debate, while critics push back that her answers can be too indirect or her prose too opaque. Even ones who hold her work in high regard (such as biologist Anne Fausto-Sterling) admit it takes effort to unpack her meaning. In her defense, Haraway has said she prefers to provoke thinking rather than hand people easy answers.

Legacy

Donna Haraway remains a landmark figure in modern thought. Her concepts – from cybernetic bodies to earth-bound kin – continue to shape how people imagine the future of humans, animals, and machines. In classrooms and conferences around the world, scholars still teach her essays as foundational readings. Entire books and journals have been dedicated to “Reading Haraway” or taking up her terms.

Though officially retired as a professor, Haraway is still active intellectually. In recent years she has given interviews and written essays on topics like pandemics and climate change. Her influence has been recognized by many honors: she received the Society for Social Studies of Science’s Ludwik Fleck Prize (1999) and J.D. Bernal Prize (2000), the American Sociological Association’s Robert K. Merton Award (1992), the Yale University Wilbur Cross Medal (2017), and in 2025 the Erasmus Prize for her contribution to the sciences and humanities. She was also the subject of the 2016 documentary Donna Haraway: Storytelling for Earthly Survival. All these signal a broad appreciation of her vision.

Looking ahead, Haraway’s legacy lies in her persistent questions. She has reframed our place in the world as part of networks of life and machine rather than as isolated masters. In a time of rapid genetic and digital change, and environmental crisis, her call to “stay with the trouble” – to face our entanglements honestly and creatively – continues to challenge new generations. As Rosi Braidotti and other feminist thinkers have noted, Haraway’s refusal to accept traditional humanist categories encourages us to imagine more inclusive and sustainable ways of living.

Selected works

Crystals, Fabrics, and Fields: Metaphors of Organicism in Twentieth-Century Developmental Biology (1976). Analyzes how metaphors in biology shape scientific theories (based on Haraway’s PhD research).
Primate Visions: Gender, Race, and Nature in the World of Modern Science (1989). A critical history of primatology showing how culture and bias influence studies of apes and monkeys.
Simians, Cyborgs, and Women: The Reinvention of Nature (1991). A collection of essays (including “A Cyborg Manifesto”) that shaped feminist science studies and introduced the cyborg metaphor.
ModestWitness@SecondMillennium. FemaleMan©MeetsOncoMouse™: Feminism and Technoscience (1997). Examines biotechnology (like the OncoMouse patent) and the politics of objectivity, using the “modest witness” as a model of critique.
The Companion Species Manifesto: Dogs, People, and Significant Otherness (2003). Explores the long, co-evolutionary relationship between humans and dogs, urging a view of domestication as mutual.
When Species Meet (2007). Studies interactions between humans and various animals, arguing that species co-shape each other’s lives and stories.
Staying with the Trouble: Making Kin in the Chthulucene (2016). Presents essays on ecology and multispecies life, coining terms like “Chthulucene” and “tentacular thinking” to describe interconnected worldly survival.

Timeline (selected)

1944: Born in Denver, Colorado.
1972: Earned Ph.D. in biology at Yale University (dissertation on metaphors in developmental biology).
1976: Published first book Crystals, Fabrics, and Fields.
1980: Joined University of California, Santa Cruz faculty.
1985: Published essay “A Cyborg Manifesto” (as “A Manifesto for Cyborgs…”), gaining widespread attention in feminist and science studies.
1988: Published essay “Situated Knowledges”, defining her theory of partial perspectives in science.
1989: Published Primate Visions, critiquing science of primatology.
1991: Edited Simians, Cyborgs, and Women, containing the Cyborg Manifesto and related essays.
1997: Published ModestWitness@SecondMillennium on biotech and animal testing.
2003: Released The Companion Species Manifesto (Purdue University Press), focusing on dogs and human relationships.
2007: Published When Species Meet (University of Minnesota Press).
2016: Published Staying with the Trouble: Making Kin in the Chthulucene.
2017: Received Yale’s Wilbur Cross Medal for her creative scholarship.
2025: Awarded the Erasmus Prize for extraordinary contributions to science and culture.

Haraway’s work continues to inspire discussion and debate. Her questions about how we live with other beings remain central to many fields—from feminist philosophy to ecology—ensuring that her influence endures well beyond any single book or essay.