Ecological Democracy and the Co-participation of Things

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa Disch
Keyword(s):  
Political Theory ◽  
Network Theory ◽  
Science And Technology Studies ◽  
Communicative Competence ◽  
Object Oriented ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
Actor Network ◽  
Material Politics ◽  
Alternative Approach ◽  
Ecological Democracy

Is ecological democracy possible? If so, what would it entail? This chapter first reviews the literature based in deliberative democracy that proposes to extend communicative competence to non-humans, and then traces an alternative constructivist line of environmental political thinking from its beginnings in the strand of science and technology studies pioneered by Bruno Latour and others known as actor-network theory, through two actor-network theory-inspired approaches to political theory, “object-oriented democracy” and “material politics/participation.” Whereas this alternative approach solves some of the conundrums to which the communicative model gives rise, it is neither as radical a departure from politics as it is “normally understood,” nor aspoliticalas its proponents claim.

scholarly journals Is Pokémon GO Feminist? An Actor-Network Theory Analysis

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Carina Assuncao
Keyword(s):  
Network Theory ◽  
Game Design ◽  
Science And Technology Studies ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
Game Studies ◽  
Entertainment Media ◽  
Actor Network ◽  
Pokémon Go ◽  
Politics And Gender ◽  
And Gender

The Pokémon franchise has been targeted and has been successful with males and females (Tobin, 2004). In it, cute-looking creatures with superpowers fight each other for the fame and glory of their masters (the players). The franchise includes a plethora of entertainment media. This essay will focus on the recent release, Pokémon GO. This particular game and its location-based technology will be analysed using cyberfeminism and actor-network theory to explore the play space as a context for kinaesthetic awareness and embodiment. The cyberfeminism herein exploited is that of “the utopian tradition of imagining a world without gender” (Haraway, 2000, p. 292). Actor-network theory, a strong methodological tradition in science and technology studies, sees actors and the networks they create as completely ‘flat’ and non-hierarchical. ANT has been criticised for its lack of concern with politics and gender (Lagesen, 2012) but, in combination with a feminist lens, ANT has the potential to uncover issues that other approaches in game studies cannot. This original framework can help game studies scholars to see gameplay processes in a new light by following the many actors involved in game design and use.

Telling Nonhuman Stories: ‘The secret contours of objects’

2019 ◽  
pp. 96-125
Author(s):  
Danielle Sands
Keyword(s):  
Network Theory ◽  
Object Oriented ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
Actor Network ◽  
First Philosophy

This chapter puts the novels of Jim Crace in conversation with Graham Harman’s Object-Oriented Philosophy. Beginning with a discussion of the development of OOP in contradistinction to Bruno Latour’s Actor Network Theory, it assesses the claims made by Harman for the superiority of OOP over contemporary relational ontologies such as that espoused by Jane Bennett. Turning to Crace, the chapter argues that his fiction enacts a sustained movement away from anthropocentrism, demonstrating the collaborative nature of storytelling and absenting the human from a variety of different landscapes. It argues that, in their examination of the ‘allure’ of objects, these novels espouse a position closer to Harman than Bennett. Finally, the chapter interrogates Harman’s presentation of aesthetics as first philosophy, arguing that the clear alignment between Crace’s fiction and Harman’s work reinforces the claim that aesthetics gives access to the ontological, and demands a reconsideration of agency.

Decadence in the Biographical Sense

2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Graham Harman
Keyword(s):  
Social Theory ◽  
Network Theory ◽  
Object Oriented ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
Object Oriented Method ◽  
Actor Network ◽  
Primary Meaning

This article summarizes the author's 2016 book Immaterialism: Objects and Social Theory, outlining the book's five criticisms of actor-network theory (ANT) and its fifteen provisional rules of object-oriented method in social theory. The article also considers Bruno Latour's criticism of Immaterialism, in particular his view that such terms as “symbiosis” and “decadence” rely too heavily on an inappropriate “biological” metaphor that has no place in discussion objects in a wider sense. In response, the authors claims that the primary meaning of the symbiosis and decadence is not biological, but biographical.

scholarly journals Informaatiokäytäntöjen tutkimuksen teoreettisia ja metodologisia mahdollisuuksia

2019 ◽  
Vol 38 (3-4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jaakko Louhivuori
Keyword(s):  
Network Theory ◽  
Science And Technology Studies ◽  
Common Ground ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Practice Research ◽  
Holistic View ◽  
Actor Network ◽  
Information Practices ◽  
History Of

In this article I ponder how the actor-network theory and the practice-based studies can be applied in information practices research. The history of the actor-network theory goes back to the 1970s and 1980s and is linked to sociology as well as science and technology studies. Actually it was not intended to be so much a theory, but more like a method of combining actors into a wider story without preconceived ideas or laws of thought. In recent years, information practice research has paid more attention to the practice-based studies than to the actor-network theory. The quest for the full recognition of nonhuman factors as a part of information generation and its utilisation can be observed as a common ground with these two approaches. I believe, that if we apply the components of the actor-network theory and practice-based studies, we will get a more holistic view of information practices. These views and results may be used to review information practices and to develop the information processes further.

Reviewing the Actor-Network Theory

2011 ◽  
pp. 1375-1380 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jose Figueiredo
Keyword(s):  
Network Theory ◽  
Science And Technology Studies ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
Dynamic Interaction ◽  
Conceptual Tool ◽  
Actor Network ◽  
Study Analyse ◽  
Broad Domain ◽  
Technical Systems ◽  
Social Entities

Actor-network theory (ANT) is usually intended as a powerful conceptual tool to study, analyse, describe and explain socio-technical systems. These systems are built up by the interactions between humans, technology, social entities and organizations. These heterogeneous actors in dynamic interaction built networks of interaction, negotiation. ANT emanated from the science and technology studies (STS) field and is considered to be in the broad domain of social networks. Michel Callon and Bruno Latour, STS academics of the École Supérieure des Mines de Paris, are their uncontested continental parents. We can report John Law, in Lancaster University, as the leading British key proponent of ANT from the very beginning. Lancaster University provides a lot of papers’ references and sources on ANT in their site (see references).

scholarly journals A Questionnaire on Materialisms

October ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 155 ◽  
pp. 3-110 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily Apter ◽  
Ed Atkins ◽  
Armen Avanessian ◽  
Bill Brown ◽  
Giuliana Bruno ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Network Theory ◽  
Object Oriented ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
The United States ◽  
Actor Network ◽  
Speculative Realism ◽  
New Materialisms ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Object Oriented Ontology

Recent philosophical tendencies of “Actor-Network Theory,” “Object-Oriented Ontology,” and “Speculative Realism” have profoundly challenged the centrality of subjectivity in the humanities, and many artists and curators, particularly in the UK, Germany, and the United States, appear deeply influenced by this shift from epistemology to ontology. October editors asked artists, historians, and philosophers invested in these projects—from Graham Harman and Alexander R. Galloway to Armen Avanessian and Patricia Falguières to Ed Atkins and Amie Siegel—to explore what the rewards and risks of assigning agency to objects may be, and how, or if, such new materialisms can be productive for making and thinking about art today.

scholarly journals What makes a robot ‘social’?

2017 ◽  
Vol 47 (4) ◽  
pp. 556-579 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raya A Jones
Keyword(s):  
Social Interactions ◽  
Network Theory ◽  
Science And Technology Studies ◽  
Science And Technology ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
Humanoid Robots ◽  
Social Robotics ◽  
Actor Network ◽  
Social Agents ◽  
Level Of Analysis

Rhetorical moves that construct humanoid robots as social agents disclose tensions at the intersection of science and technology studies (STS) and social robotics. The discourse of robotics often constructs robots that are like us (and therefore unlike dumb artefacts). In the discourse of STS, descriptions of how people assimilate robots into their activities are presented directly or indirectly against the backdrop of actor-network theory, which prompts attributing agency to mundane artefacts. In contradistinction to both social robotics and STS, it is suggested here that to view a capacity to partake in dialogical action (to have a ‘voice’) is necessary for regarding an artefact as authentically social. The theme is explored partly through a critical reinterpretation of an episode that Morana Alač reported and analysed towards demonstrating her bodies-in-interaction concept. This paper turns to ‘body’ with particular reference to Gibsonian affordances theory so as to identify the level of analysis at which dialogicality enters social interactions.

Objects of journalism, revised: Rethinking materiality in journalism studies through emotion, culture and ‘unexpected objects’

Journalism ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 146488492098573
Author(s):  
Rachel E. Moran ◽  
Nikki Usher
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Studies ◽  
News Media ◽  
Network Theory ◽  
Object Oriented ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
Actor Network ◽  
Journalism Studies ◽  
Soft Objects ◽  
Digital Objects ◽  
Emotional Dimensions

Despite attempts to reinvigorate studies of materiality in Journalism Studies, research has often failed to move beyond a narrow application of actor-network theory focused on the affordances of digital objects of journalism. As a result, journalism studies has missed a productive opportunity to consider the emotional, cultural and aesthetic potential of object-oriented study. This article makes the case for focusing on how objects of journalism are felt, experienced and are otherwise culturally situated. Drawing on cultural studies, we advocate for a rethinking of materialism to more expansively reckon with the affective and emotional dimensions of journalism. Further, we develop Schudson’s (2015) theory of ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ objects to include a third category: ‘unexpected objects’ of journalism. These objects, such as art on newsroom walls, news media merchandise, and daily ephemera, often have little directly to do with newsmaking processes, yet play an important affective role in journalism.

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