Haraway, one of the most highly regarded theorists in America, disusses her intellectual development and influences, the role of Catholicism in her thinking and how her ethical stands have mirrored issues in her personal life.
"I experience language as an intensely physical process," writes Donna Haraway. "I cannot "not" think through metaphor... Biochemistry and language just don't feel that different to me."
Since the appearance of her monumental "Primate Visions" and the now classic essay "A Manifesto for Cyborgs," feminist historian of science Donna Haraway has created a way of thinking about culture, science, and the production of knowledge that has made her one of the most highly regarded theorists in America. She is admired for her passion and rigor, her wicked ironies, and her deep commitment to issues of gender and race, as well as species.
The author of four seminal works on science and culture, Donna Haraway here speaks for the first time in a direct and non-academic voice. Thyrza Nichols Goodeve leads her subject through conversation about Haraway's intellectual development, theories and influences, the role of Catholicism in her thinking, and how her ethical stands have mirrored issues in her personal life.
For readers who have admired and struggled with the rich and complex performances of her earlier works, "How Like a Leaf" will be a welcome inside view of the author's thought. At the same time, this work makes Haraway's contribution to modern thought available to a much wider audience who cares about the issues she addresses. This is a highly personal introduction to a major thinker's body of work.
"...contributes to a history of women's lives in twentieth-century America as well as to a history of feminism." -- NWSA Journal"Goodeve easily steers the discussion to intensely personal territory that is sure to interest Haraway's admirers. She discusses the impact of her mother's death and her adult love relationships upon her work, and the link between her Catholic upbringing and the metaphorical heart of her theory. HOW LIKE A LEAF...is a terrific read, and on that brings an important theorist closer to the general public." -- Puncture Magazine"...people who seek a greater understanding of Haraway's work will find the interview well worth their time... It's most impressive attribute is that it manages to perform the integration between the personal, the political, the historical and the theoretical in a manner that is well suited to Haraway's thought." -- Kairos"How Like A Leaf is a welcome door to the complex theories and personal life of Haraway...Recommended for all women's studies and academic science collections." -- Library Journal, December 1999"How Like A Leaf offers its reader an inviting visit with Haraway, which evolves as a balanced blend of academic discourse and informal banter housed in a deceivingly slender book, as compared to the volumes of related thought it conjures. As cyborgs, our neurons resonate the electric hum of her words--their prophetic implications racing through terminals, past each glowing plexus with the thrill of transformation, and the exactness of circuitry." -- Foreword"Feminist philosopher of science, Donna J. Haraway, author of "A Manifesto for Cyborgs" and PRIMATE VISIONS, explains the roles that Heidegger, critical theory, California, and her ex-husband's death from AIDS play in her thinking in HOW LIKE A LEAF: An Interview with Donna J. Haraway b Thyrza Nicholas Goodeve." -- Publishers Weekly"Her extreordinayr mobility of point of view thrwarts bloc politics,flows like cool water over devastating oppressions -Linda Brigham, Cultural Studies October, 2001."
