Kinning and composting

Abstract

This multivocal collection of writings features nonhuman mentors to whom we connected after shedding traditional ideas of mentoring through a process of composting. Harraway’s concept of composting enabled our group to collectively deconstruct our thoughts around mentoring in qualitative inquiry and turn traditional mentoring hierarchies into something called “mentorshit.” Composting with mentorshit intertwined disparate thoughts and led us to connect or make kin with an unexpected and diverse set of new mentors: butterflies, cats, mold, and urine, silence, and ghosts. Our new kin mentored us to shift our human-centered perceptions of time, resist alienation from the communities we research, and turn our attention to neglected concepts. As a result, we found that we more carefully selected research projects, overcame writing blocks, renewed commitments to communities we research, analyzed data from a new viewpoint, and more clearly saw the hidden influences in our thinking. Our compost pile emerged in the form of a collection of narratives, which we divided into three heaps: (1) Haraway’s non-humanist perspectives, (2) Barad’s emphasis on the material world, and (3) Manning’s minor gesture.