The Politics of Nature: New Materialist Responses to the Anthropocene

2018 ◽  
Vol 35 (7-8) ◽  
pp. 73-96 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arianne Françoise Conty
Keyword(s):  
Coral Reefs ◽  
Network Theory ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
Ecological Crisis ◽  
New Materialism ◽  
Polar Bears ◽  
Actor Network ◽  
Technological Tools ◽  
Ecological Politics ◽  
Politics Of Nature

In order to explore some of the divergences within new materialism and elucidate their relationship to actor-network theory, this article will develop Latour’s theory of agency and then compare it to those new materialists who uphold a ‘flat ontology’ that includes technological tools (Jane Bennett) and those who uphold an animate/inanimate distinction (Tim Ingold and Eduardo Kohn). In light of the ecological crisis called the Anthropocene, the dissolution of the animate/inanimate distinction will be defended in order to address both polar bears and glaciers, coral reefs and clown fish. Though Latour himself has defended such a dissolution, his political proposals to address the ecological crisis revert back to the modern and dualist position he has himself critiqued for so long. Using the gains of actor-network theory, while differentiating a new materialist ecological politics from that of Latour, will be shown to be necessary in order to find a solution to the crisis of the Anthropocene.

Actor–Network Theory

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annelies Kamp
Keyword(s):  
Network Theory ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
New Materialism ◽  
Data Generation ◽  
Actor Network ◽  
Social Studies Of Science ◽  
The Social ◽  
The World ◽  
The Moment

Actor–network theory (ANT) is an approach to research that sits with a broader body of new materialism; a body of work that displaces humanism to consider dynamic assemblages of humans and nonhumans. Originally developed in the social studies of science and technology undertaken in the second half of the 20th century, ANT has increasingly been taken up in other arenas of social inquiry. Researchers working with ANT do not accept the unquestioned use of “social” explanations for educational phenomena. Rather, the social, like all other effects, is taken to be an enactment of heterogenous assemblages of human and nonhuman entities. The role of the educational researcher is to trace these processes of assemblage and reassemblage, foregrounding the ways in which certain entities establish sufficient allies to assume some degree of “realness” in the world. Aligning most closely with ethnographic orientations, ANT does not outline a method. However, it could be argued that a number of propositions are shared in ANT-inspired approaches: first, that the world is made up of actors/actants, all of which are ontologically symmetrical. Humans are not privileged in ANT. Second, the principle of irreduction—there is no essence within or beyond any process of assemblage. Actors are concrete; there is no “potential” other than their actions in the moment. Entities are nothing more than an effect of assemblage. Third, the concept of translation and its processes of mediation that transform objects when they encounter one another. Finally, the principle of alliance. Actants gain strength only through their alliances. These propositions have specific implications for data generation, analysis, and reporting.

scholarly journals Notes Toward an Extimate Materialism: A Reply to Graham Harman

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 106-123
Author(s):  
Russell Sbriglia
Keyword(s):  
Network Theory ◽  
Object Oriented ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
Dialectical Materialism ◽  
New Materialism ◽  
Actor Network ◽  
Speculative Realism ◽  
New Materialisms ◽  
The Future ◽  
Object Oriented Ontology

Abstract This article mounts a defense of my and Slavoj Žižek’s co-edited anthology, Subject Lessons: Hegel, Lacan, and the Future of Materialism, against the two main criticisms of it made throughout Graham Harman’s article “The Battle of Objects and Subjects”: (1) that we and our fellow contributors are guilty of gross overgeneralization when we classify thinkers from various schools of thought – among them New Materialism, object-oriented ontology, speculative realism, and actor–network theory – under the broad rubric of the “new materialisms”; and (2) that despite our pretensions to the mantle of materialism, our Lacano-Hegelian position is actually a full-blown idealism. In responding to and attempting to refute these criticisms, I make the case that our Lacano-Hegelian model of dialectical materialism is an “extimate materialism.”

Technological Multistability and the Trouble with the Things Themselves

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Rosenberger
Keyword(s):  
Network Theory ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
New Materialism ◽  
Actor Network ◽  
Jean Paul ◽  
Open Questions ◽  
Multiple Meanings ◽  
Feminist New Materialism ◽  
Metaphysical Status

Following Husserl, phenomenologists and “postphenomenologists” often use a rhetoric of getting back to the “things themselves.” However, open questions remain about how we should understand the metaphysical status of the technologies that we encounter. These questions remain especially open for perspectives such as postphenomenology (and sister accounts such as feminist new materialism, and actor-network theory), with their commitments to an ontology of relations. One way forward is through a deeper consideration of the postphenomenological notion of “multistability,” the idea that technologies always support multiple meanings and uses. Including a detour through Jean-Paul Sartre’s example of the letter opener, I explore what it can mean for technological multistability to constitute a jumping-off point for analysis, rather than a conversation stopper. The “things themselves” are a fine investigative target to be sought. Nevertheless, we should prepare for the possibility that we may find something else.

scholarly journals Breve estudo sobre o materialismo e a Teoria do Ator-Rede com foco em sua corrente novo materialista

2019 ◽  
pp. 238-255
Keyword(s):  
Network Theory ◽  
Historical Materialism ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
Human Action ◽  
New Materialism ◽  
Actor Network ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Difference

This paper aims at analyzing the stream in Actor-Network Theory close to New Materialism from the perspective of its materialistic roots, briefly, outlining the history of materialism, regarding the modifications represented by Marx’s theory and the difference of the latter to New Materialism. Whilst Marx distances from Hegel and Feuerbach by giving centrality to labor, the New Materialism, inspired by Deleuze’s work, attempts to depart from both modernity and post-modernity, assuming the inexistence of any dyad. In this actor-network Materialist Semiotics, the matter no longer represents something inert waiting for human action, a being endowed with vitality; from a rational over an irrational being. Lastly, based on the distinction between these two materialisms, we present a critic of the Actor-Network Theory based on historical materialism.

scholarly journals Życie po życiu albo republika bytów. Starość aksolotla Jacka Dukaja w perspektywie ekokrytycznej

2020 ◽  
Vol 25 ◽  
pp. 261-282
Author(s):  
Jarosław Woźniak
Keyword(s):  
Network Theory ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
Literary Text ◽  
New Materialism ◽  
Actor Network ◽  
Nature Of Technology

In the presented article, the author explores the possibilities of an ecocritical reading of the Starość aksolotla by Jacek Dukaj. Particular emphasis is placed on the post-humanist motifs and im-plications of the story. At the same time, the author extensively discusses the latest trends in ecocriti-cism and tries to supplement the interpretation of the literary text with theoretical reflections on the situation, challenges and future of ecocriticism. The author also presents the possibilities of using such trends as new materialism, flat ontology or Actor-Network Theory in ecocritical practice. The most important theoretical contexts are Bernard Stiegler’s reflections on the nature of technology, Latour’s Actor-Network Theory reinterpreted by Graham Harman, Jane Bennett’s new materialism and “ecology without nature” of Timothy Morton.

scholarly journals The selected premises for the reconfiguration of the disability model. The posthumanist perspective

2020 ◽  
pp. 55-81
Author(s):  
TERESA ŻÓŁKOWSKA ◽  
KAROLINA KALISZEWSKA
Keyword(s):  
Network Theory ◽  
Transition Period ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
Social Model ◽  
New Materialism ◽  
Bruno Latour ◽  
Actor Network ◽  
Social Model Of Disability ◽  
Models Of Disability ◽  
New Models

Teresa Żółkowska, Karolina Kaliszewska, The selected premises for the reconfigura-tion of the disability model. The posthu-manist perspective. Interdisciplinary Contexts of Special Pedagogy, no. 25, Poznań 2019. Pp. 55-81. Adam Mickiewicz University Press. ISSN 2300-391X. DOI: https://doi.org/10.14746/ikps.2019.25.03 In the contemporary special pedagogy, it is clearly seen, that we are dealing with a situation of passing over scholarly programmes that refer, i.a. to the medical and social model of disability. We remain in a inter-paradigmatic transition period, in which new views on disability are appearing. One of the most popular scholarly approaches is the posthumanism, the characteristics of which are, i.a.: the critique of humanism, the departure from anthropocentrism, the appearance of a new materialism, the direction of research towards objects, animals, as well as, the relations of people and non-people. The example of such posthumanist approach, that may constitute the context for the creation of new models of disability, is the Actor-Network theory developed by Bruno Latour and his associates.

STRUCTURING A SUCCESSFUL INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER PROCESS: A CASE STUDY FROM THE PERSPECTIVES OF ACTOR NETWORK THEORY

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Huda Ibrahim ◽  
Hasmiah Kasimin
Keyword(s):  
Information Technology ◽  
Technology Transfer ◽  
Transfer Process ◽  
Network Theory ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Local Market ◽  
Private Company ◽  
Actor Network ◽  
Technology Transfer Process

An effi cient and effective information technology transfer from developed countries to Malaysia is an important issue as a prerequisite to support the ICT needs of the country to become not only a ICT user but also a ICT producer. One of the factors that infl uences successful information technology transfer is managing the process of how technology transfer occurs in one environment. It involves managing interaction between all parties concerned which requires an organized strategy and action toward accomplishing technology transfer objective in an integrated and effective mode. Using a conceptual framework based on the Actor Network Theory (ANT), this paper will analyse a successful information technology transfer process at a private company which is also a supplier of information technology (IT) products to the local market. This framework will explain how the company has come up with a successful technology transfer in a local environment. Our study shows that the company had given interest to its relationships with all the parties involved in the transfer process. The technology transfer programme and the strategy formulated take into account the characteristics of technology and all those involved.  

The Action of Christian Buildings on their Chinese Environment

2017 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 100-121
Author(s):  
Michel Chambon
Keyword(s):  
Network Theory ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
Active Part ◽  
Architectural Style ◽  
Actor Network

This article explores the ways in which Christians are building churches in contemporary Nanping, China. At first glance, their architectural style appears simply neo-Gothic, but these buildings indeed enact a rich web of significances that acts upon local Christians and beyond. Building on Actor-Network Theory and exploring the multiple ties in which they are embedded, I argue that these buildings are agents acting in their own right, which take an active part in the process of making the presence of the Christian God tangible.

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