''Staying with the Trouble: Making Kin in the Chthulucene'' is a 2016 book by

Donna Haraway Donna J. Haraway is an American Professor Emerita in the History of Consciousness Department and Feminist Studies Department at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and a prominent scholar in the field of science and technology studies. Sh ...

, published by

Duke University Press Duke University Press is an academic publisher and university press affiliated with Duke University. It was founded in 1921 by William T. Laprade as The Trinity College Press. (Duke University was initially called Trinity College). In 1926 Du ...

. In a thesis statement, Haraway writes: "Staying with the trouble means making oddkin; that is, we require each other in unexpected collaborations and combinations, in hot compost piles. We become - with each other or not at all." Both the imagery of the

compost pile Compost is a mixture of ingredients used as plant fertilizer and to improve soil's physical, chemical and biological properties. It is commonly prepared by decomposing plant, food waste, recycling organic materials and manure. The resulting m ...

and the concept of oddkin are repeated motifs throughout the work. By emphasizing connectedness, ''Staying with the Trouble'' can be thought of as a continuation of major themes from "

A Cyborg Manifesto "A Cyborg Manifesto" is an essay written by Donna Haraway and published in 1985 in the '' Socialist Review (US)''. In it, the concept of the cyborg represents a rejection of rigid boundaries, notably those separating "human" from "animal" and "hu ...

" and '' The Companion Species Manifesto''. Haraway's book can also be thought of as a critique of the

Anthropocene The Anthropocene ( ) is a proposed geological epoch dating from the commencement of significant human impact on Earth's geology and ecosystems, including, but not limited to, anthropogenic climate change. , neither the International Commissi ...

as a way of making sense of the present, de-emphasizing human exceptionalism in favor of multispecism.

Structure

''Staying with the Trouble'' is broken into eight chapters, the majority of which are revisions of previous work dating from as early as 2012. One: Playing

String Figures A string figure is a design formed by manipulating string on, around, and using one's fingers or sometimes between the fingers of multiple people. String figures may also involve the use of the mouth, wrist, and feet. They may consist of sing ...

with Companion Species Written in honor of G. Evelyn Hutchinson, Haraway's PhD Advisor, and Beatriz da Costa. Two: Tentacular Thinking:

, Captialocene
Chthulucene
'' Three: Sympoiesis:

Symbiogenesis Symbiogenesis (endosymbiotic theory, or serial endosymbiotic theory,) is the leading evolutionary theory of the origin of eukaryotic cells from prokaryotic organisms. The theory holds that mitochondria, plastids such as chloroplasts, and possi ...

and the Lively Arts of Staying with the Trouble Four: Making Kin: Anthropocene, Captialocene, Plantationcene, Chthulucene Five: Awash in Urine:

DES Des is a masculine given name, mostly a short form (hypocorism) of Desmond. People named Des include: People * Des Buckingham, English football manager * Des Corcoran, (1928–2004), Australian politician * Des Dillon (disambiguation), sever ...

and

Premarin Conjugated estrogens (CEs), or conjugated equine estrogens (CEEs), sold under the brand name Premarin among others, is an estrogen medication which is used in menopausal hormone therapy and for various other indications. It is a mixture of the ...

in Multispecies Response-ability Six: Sowing Worlds: A Seed Bag for Terraforming with Earth Others Seven: A Curious Practice Eight: The Camille Stories: Children of Compost

References

Works by Donna Haraway Science and technology studies works {{philo-stub