Stories Matter: Foster and Haraway

Stories are all we are, they’re all we have. I had just turned 20. He was 35. His words eluded my emotional comprehension back then but resonate with me now. These memories percolated while I watched Charles Foster’s online presentation at the G10. I was reminded of unpacking ideas in a chaotic world, specifically, Donna Haraway’s book Staying with the Trouble: Making Kin in the Chthulucene (2016) when Foster said in his talk: “It takes a story to know a story”.

Haraway explores our interconnectedness with the environment and other species, advocating for new forms of kinship and collaboration in the face of ecological crises. She asserts: “It matters what stories make worlds; what worlds make stories”. Stories are tools we use to create and share our realities, environment, and how we interact.

Stories are necessary for navigating our place in the world. By sharing narratives about our connections with other human and non-human beings, Haraway highlights how these stories can cultivate empathy and collective action. She calls for “other kinds of stories” that encourage nuanced views of existence, which she refers to as “storying otherwise”, inspiring us to explore alternative possibilities. Alternative routes. Rethinking relationships with a sense of responsibility towards one another. Haraway articulates a vision of storytelling that is relational and inclusive, embracing diverse stories in a complex, multispecies world. 

Foster’s insights align somewhat with Haraway’s ideas, in that he observes how stories shape our perceptions of reality through an experiential lens, impacted by the histories behind the stories. This suggests that our experiences are intertwined with the narratives we engage with. While Foster posits that stories can help us comprehend our experiences, Haraway suggests that engaging with diverse stories can illuminate our entanglements with others, guiding us toward more ethical interactions. 

Both Foster and Haraway share philosophical perspectives that critique modernity's detachment from nature. Nature is not discovered but constructed through cultural and scientific stories. And stories do not exist in isolation. Foster and Haraway remind us that the stories we tell can be used to reflect and redirect our realities. It matters what stories we choose to tell. Those stories influence the way we tell other stories. 

Why does this matter? Because stories are all we are, they’re all we have. For when we inevitably join the choir invisible, it will be our resilient and enduring stories that remain.