Manifesto

Dear reader,

This world can be like a misty road. You try to follow it, without being sure where it will lead you. You wonder if it’s safe. Who built this road, and for whom? Beneath your hurried steps, are loose tiles: small disruptions, cracks in the surface. You don't notice them—until you stumble.

Stumbling happens suddenly and unexpectedly. It interrupts the rhythms of everyday life. When you stumble, you’re brought out of balance. The destabilized body grasps around and demands full attention to recover. You try to find balance again.

Welcome to The Stumble. This blog is a space for thoughts on lingering in the moments of rupture; for paying attention to what is too often overlooked. Stumbling teaches us what’s wrong with the road beneath our feet. We strive to slow down and explore the loose tiles: what to resist. And we try to think about our responses to them: how to resist. Every week, one of us—four queer and feminist anthropologists—shares a story of stumbling from our daily lives. These might seem like small, personal moments, but they often open up questions about power, identity and (in)justice.

Through the lens of queer and feminist theorists, we point at norms that don’t seem to fit and systems that don’t seem to work. We think with poet Amanda Gorman, who writes: "We've learned that quiet isn't always peace, and the norms and notions of what 'just is' isn't always justice." Stumbling helps us notice what no longer works—what is broken beneath our feet but too often ignored. We take inspiration from Sara Ahmed, who reminds us that the feminist killjoy disrupts comfort to make space for what truly matters. And we walk alongside Donna Haraway, who urges us to stay with the trouble — to remain with the messiness of the present rather than rushing to resolve or escape it. In this spirit, we treat the moment of stumbling as a site of insight: a place to learn from the unexpected and discover new ways to navigate through this troubling world. We invite you to stay with The Stumble.

With love,

Your authors

Marije Nieuwland, Lieke van den Belt, Islay Kilgannon, Kyriaki Mallioglou

📚Call Us What We Carry (Armanda Gorman)

📚The Feminist Killjoy Handbook (Sarah Ahmed)

📚Staying with the Trouble: Making Kin in the Chthulucene (Donna Haraway)

📚Women Writing on Culture (Ruth Behar, Deborah A. Gordon)