The Ghost in the Music, or the Perspective of an Improvising Ant

Author(s):  
David Borgo

One of the particular joys of improvising music together is not knowing precisely the relationship between one’s own actions and thoughts (one has to surprise oneself, after all) or between one’s actions and those of other improvisers (did you do that because I did that? Or did I do that because you did that?). Drawing on research in social psychology, actor-network theory, and the extended mind thesis in cognitive science, this chapter argues that one’s experience of musical “authorship” can be enhanced or undermined rather easily by social, material, and technological forms of agency in the environment. It concludes that musical improvisation offers simultaneously a situated practice for exploring interagency—and thereby exorcising the humanistic ghost of a “self-luminous” will—and the possibility of creating some provisional closure, some fleeting reduction of complexity, in a world increasingly characterized by relentless machinic heterogenesis.

2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (5) ◽  
pp. 858
Author(s):  
Min Liu

Chinese philosophical literature is rarely introduced to foreign countries (Pohl, 1999, p. 303). Zhou Guoping, as a contemporary philosopher and essayist, has created essays with both depth and readability, and thus his works are deemed to be worthy of translation. This article aims to elaborate on the translator’s techniques for transferring Zhou Guoping’s famous collection of essays A Watchful Distance. Divided into four sections, this article uses actor-network theory as its theoretical framework and analyses the translator’s position in translation activities from sociocultural perspective, gives corresponding translating techniques to problems related to creativity, conventionalised expressions, utterances and Chinese cultural elements in this book, and draws a conclusion upon the relationship between cultural homogeneity and corresponding translating techniques underpinned by actor-network theory. By discussing specific translating techniques used for Zhou’s book, this article fills up the gap in the transfer techniques of A Watchful Distance to overseas cultures. However, the limitation lies in that the number of Zhou’s works studied are restricted.


Author(s):  
Hafizah Mohamad Hsbollah ◽  
Alan Simon ◽  
Nick Letch

The implementation of IT governance (ITG) arrangements and its relationship to IT infrastructure has not received much attention in either the ITG or the information systems (IS) literature. Based on the premise that the foundation on which ITG is implemented lies in the interaction between ITG arrangements of structures, processes and relational mechanisms and IT infrastructure, the authors present a discussion of how actor network theory (ANT) can be used as an overarching theoretical framework of explanation. The authors propose a model of ITG implementation and discuss how ANT, in particular the local/global network approach, can be applied to understand the relationship that exists between ITG arrangements and IT infrastructure.


2012 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 105-122 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edwin Sayes ◽  

The philosophy of Bruno Latour has given us one of the most important statements on the part played by technology in the ordering of the human collective. Typically presented as a radical departure from mainstream social thought, Latour is not without his intellectual creditors: Michel Serres and, through him, René Girard. By tracing this development, we are led to understand better the relationship of Latour’s work, and Actor-Network Theory more generally, to traditional sociological concerns. By doing so we can also hope to understand better the role that objects play in structuring society.


2016 ◽  
Vol 71 (4) ◽  
pp. 221-227 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sören Becker ◽  
Antje Otto

Abstract. This editorial introduces different theoretical strands in political ecology both in English and German speaking contexts. Comparing Marxist with more relational and "new materialist" approaches, it is argued that the various theoretical approaches chosen induce different ways of how the relationship between society and nature, between material and culture is conceptualized. The dialectical perspective derived from Marxism is thereby contrasted with the more emergent, and relativist understandings of actor network theory and assemblage thinking. Besides, the six single contributions in this Special Issue are introduced and five areas for further research are laid out: (1) the multiplicity of materiality, (2) the opposition between dialectic and relativist thinking, (3) the tension between elements and entire socio-material configurations, (4) materiality in the production of space and (5) issues of materiality and power.


Author(s):  
Lars Linden ◽  
Carol Saunders

In June 2007, with the impending release of a revised version of the GNU General Public License (GPLv3), Linux kernel developers discussed the possibility of changing the license of the Linux kernel from being strictly the GPLv2 to a dual-licensing arrangement of both GPLv2 and GPLv3. We studied a set of Linux Kernel Mailing List (LKML) postings to better understand the relationship among the kernel developers and these licenses. Using Actor-Network Theory, we identify and describe a LKML debate about licensing. Our narrative highlights important actor-networks, their interrelationships, and a (failed) process of translation. The details suggest that the conceptualization of a copyright license as a monolithic social force maintaining the Linux community should be tempered with an appreciation of authorship and its distributed nature within Linux development.


2015 ◽  
Vol 58 (2) ◽  
pp. 135-156 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harrison Esam Awuh

Abstract:This article utilizes the Actor‒Network Theory (ANT) to guide thinking about the relationship between nature and society and how this relationship is severed by conservation-induced displacement. ANT’s view of interconnectivity between networks is used to argue that a network is only stable as long as actors remain faithful to it. In the case of the displaced Baka people of the Dja Reserve area in East Cameroon, resistance to conservation through adaptive practices following displacement can reverse or disrupt the socially predetermined order of a network, which in this case would be marginalization of the displaced. However, the marginal scale of their adaptation to change raises doubts over the sustainability of adaptation to post-displacement livelihoods.


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