scholarly journals The Long and the Short of It: Approaching the (Un-)Representable in China Miéville’s “The Tain” (2002) and “The Condition of New Death” (2014)

2020 ◽  
Vol 69 (2) ◽  
pp. 129-142
Author(s):  
Christoph Reinfandt
Keyword(s):  
Short Story ◽  
Network Theory ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Actor Network ◽  
Theoretical Approaches ◽  
Weird Fiction ◽  
New Materialisms ◽  
Genre Conventions ◽  
Conceptual Shift

Abstract How can the genre of the short story accommodate the ‘inflationary tendency’ of weird fiction (Carl Freedman)? This article will trace how a very long and a very short story by China Miéville establish their respective weird elements in order to function as ‘placeholders for the unrepresentable’ (China Miéville). As will be shown, “The Tain” frames the weird in an elaborate and intricate narrative construction which is clearly literary while “The Condition of New Death” is basically expository and partly relies on the non-literary genre conventions of the academic report and the manifesto. In both instances, however, there is a reflexive turn which insists on the text itself not only in its representational but also in its performative (telling stories, writing) and material (print, paper, screen) dimensions as a constitutive part of what makes reality real for human beings. The article concludes with a brief placing of the New Weird short story in the wider field of (post-)modern(ist) literature and fiction and in the conceptual shift from deconstruction to more recent theoretical approaches like Actor-Network-Theory and the New Materialisms.

scholarly journals Still ‘the human thing’? Technology, human agency and the future of war

2018 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Coker
Keyword(s):  
Network Theory ◽  
Human Agency ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
The State ◽  
Human Behaviour ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Actor Network ◽  
Human Control ◽  
The Future

Is war beginning to escape human control? Thucydides tells us the war is one of the things that makes us definitively human; but how long will this continue to be the case as our relationship with technology continues to develop? Kenneth Waltz’s book Man, the State and War affords one way of answering that question. So too does Nikolaas Tinbergen’s framework for understanding human behaviour and Bruno Latour’s Actor–Network Theory (ANT). The main focus of this article is the extent to which we will diminish or enhance our own agency as human beings, especially when we come to share the planet with an intelligence higher than our own.

Talking about Associations and Descriptions or a Short Story about Associology

2017 ◽  
pp. 220-233
Author(s):  
Beate Ochsner
Keyword(s):  
Short Story ◽  
Network Theory ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
Bruno Latour ◽  
Actor Network ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Human Actors ◽  
Agency And Structure

In 1999, Bruno Latour advocated for “abandoning what was wrong with ANT, that is ‘actor,' ‘network,' ‘theory' without forgetting the hyphen.” However, it seems that the “hyphen,” which brings with it the operation of hyphenating or connecting, was abandoned too quickly. If one investigates what something is by asking what it is meant as well as how it emerges, by (re-)tracing the strategy in materials in situated practices and sets of relations, and, by bypassing the distinction between agency and structure, one shifts from studying “what causes what” to describing “how things happen.” This perspective not only makes it necessary for us to clarify the changing positions and displacements of human and non-human actors in the assemblage, but, also question the role (the enrolment) of the researcher him/herself: What kind of “relation” connects the researcher to his/her research and associates him/her with the subject, how to prevent (or not) his/her own involvement, and, to what degree s/he ignores the relationality of his/her writing in a “sociology of association?”

The Role of Gossip in the Creation and Miscreation of Company Identity from the Perspective of Actor-Network Theory

2015 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 40-55 ◽  
Author(s):  
Magdalena Bielenia-Grajewska
Keyword(s):  
Network Theory ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
Organizational Environment ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Informal Communication ◽  
Research Attention ◽  
Actor Network ◽  
Different Types ◽  
The Creation

In this paper an attempt will be made to show how the grapevine shapes the relations between companies and stakeholders. To narrow the scope of the research, attention will be focused solely on one type of colloquial corporate socializing, namely gossiping. The company, its organizational environment and its relation with gossip are studied by implying the notion of company identity. The interrelation between gossiping and company identity has not been discussed by many researchers, although informal communication as such spans a number of disciplines. Consequently, in this work the author will try to show both the negative and positive sides of gossip in forming corporate communities and their character. Taking into account the growing role of networks in creating and sustaining different types of communication, gossiping is studied through the perspective of Actor-Network Theory that facilitates an understanding of how human beings and non-living entities shape the way company identity is constructed and maintained.

scholarly journals ANARCHISM AND PHENOMENOLOGY

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 585-608
Author(s):  
JOERY SHRIVERS
Keyword(s):  
Network Theory ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
Academic Discourse ◽  
Actor Network ◽  
Phenomenological Tradition ◽  
Introductory Article ◽  
New Materialisms

We offer an introductory article to the translation of Dutch philosopher Joery Schreivers’ work Phenomenologists and Anarchism, which deals with the reception of current foreign trajectories of phenomenological and akratic reflexions from the perspective of contemporary Russian academic discourse. In the light of this, an attempt is made to assess the significance and originality of J. Shrivers’ study, focused on the conceptual juxtaposition of two philosophical traditions: phenomenology and the philosophy of anarchism. The value of the author’s stated perspective, which provides an opportunity to revise the classical phenomenological texts, is articulated as being related to its methodological novelty—not only for the Russian-speaking space, but also for foreign philosophy; a review and analysis of the central theses of the article, related to the key figures of the line of succession of acrical reflection in the phenomenological tradition, which is outlined by the author, is given, including: M.Heidegger, R. Schürmann, E.Levinas, J.Derrida, J.-L.Nancy, J.-I.Lacoste, C.Romano and J.-L.Marion. The article also builds theoretical connections between the anarchist foundations of a number of phenomenological reflections identified by J. Schreivers and the ontological accoutrements of other current philosophical trends—for example, the actor-network theory and the polyphony of new materialisms.

scholarly journals FREEDOM AND (CO)BEING: AN-ARCHE’S ROUTES THROUGH THE LANDSCAPES OF PHENOMENOLOGY. PREFACE TO JOERY SHRIVERS’ ARTICLE “ANARCHISM AND PHENOMENOLOGY”

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 577-584
Author(s):  
MARIA RAKHMANINOVA ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Network Theory ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
Academic Discourse ◽  
Actor Network ◽  
Phenomenological Tradition ◽  
Introductory Article ◽  
New Materialisms

We offer an introductory article to the translation of Dutch philosopher Joery Schreivers’ work Phenomenologists and Anarchism, which deals with the reception of current foreign trajectories of phenomenological and akratic reflexions from the perspective of contemporary Russian academic discourse. In the light of this, an attempt is made to assess the significance and originality of J. Shrivers’ study, focused on the conceptual juxtaposition of two philosophical traditions: phenomenology and the philosophy of anarchism. The value of the author’s stated perspective, which provides an opportunity to revise the classical phenomenological texts, is articulated as being related to its methodological novelty—not only for the Russian-speaking space, but also for foreign philosophy; a review and analysis of the central theses of the article, related to the key figures of the line of succession of acrical reflection in the phenomenological tradition, which is outlined by the author, is given, including: M.Heidegger, R. Schürmann, E.Levinas, J.Derrida, J.-L.Nancy, J.-I.Lacoste, C.Romano and J.-L.Marion. The article also builds theoretical connections between the anarchist foundations of a number of phenomenological reflections identified by J. Schreivers and the ontological accoutrements of other current philosophical trends—for example, the actor-network theory and the polyphony of new materialisms.

Mediated Action and Network of Actors

2011 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 21-34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antonio Díaz Andrade ◽  
Samuel Ekundayo
Keyword(s):  
Activity Theory ◽  
Human Activity ◽  
Network Theory ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
Actor Network ◽  
Mediated Action ◽  
Theoretical Approaches ◽  
Similarities And Differences ◽  
Analytical Tools ◽  
Sociology Of Technology

Both actor-network theory and activity theory call attention to the coexistence of people and technology. Although both theories provide analytical tools to understand the nature of the reciprocal action-shaping of humans and nonhumans, each puts emphasis on different conceptual elements of human activity. In this paper, the authors examine both activity theory and actor-network theory and present their similarities and differences, limitations, and complementarities. Using the theoretical lenses of both theories, the authors trace the evolution of an ordinary artifact to illustrate how researchers on the sociology of technology and innovations can benefit from these parallel theoretical approaches.

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 Editorial: Natur, Gesellschaft, Materialität: aktuelle Herausforderungen der Politischen Ökologie

2016 ◽  
Vol 71 (4) ◽  
pp. 221-227 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sören Becker ◽  
Antje Otto
Keyword(s):  
Political Ecology ◽  
Network Theory ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Production Of Space ◽  
Actor Network ◽  
Theoretical Approaches ◽  
Dialectical Perspective ◽  
German Speaking ◽  
The Relationship

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.

Mediated Action and Network of Actors

2013 ◽  
pp. 193-206
Author(s):  
Antonio Díaz Andrade ◽  
Samuel Ekundayo
Keyword(s):  
Activity Theory ◽  
Human Activity ◽  
Network Theory ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
Actor Network ◽  
Mediated Action ◽  
Theoretical Approaches ◽  
Similarities And Differences ◽  
Analytical Tools ◽  
Sociology Of Technology

Both actor-network theory and activity theory call attention to the coexistence of people and technology. Although both theories provide analytical tools to understand the nature of the reciprocal action-shaping of humans and nonhumans, each puts emphasis on different conceptual elements of human activity. In this paper, the authors examine both activity theory and actor-network theory and present their similarities and differences, limitations, and complementarities. Using the theoretical lenses of both theories, the authors trace the evolution of an ordinary artifact to illustrate how researchers on the sociology of technology and innovations can benefit from these parallel theoretical approaches.

The Use of Structuration Theory and Actor Network Theory for Analysis

2010 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tiko Iyamu ◽  
Dewald Roode
Keyword(s):  
Network Theory ◽  
Structuration Theory ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
Human Action ◽  
Prima Facie ◽  
It Strategy ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Actor Network ◽  
Global Competitiveness ◽  
Actor Networks

In the current climate of global competitiveness, many organisations are increasingly dependent on their IT strategy—either to increase their competitiveness, or often just to survive. Yet little is known about the non-technical influencing factors (such as people) and their impact on the development and implementation of IT strategy. There would therefore seem to be prima facie evidence that there is a need for a new approach to examining the relationships between social factors, technology and the organisation with respect to the development and implementation of IT strategy. This article seeks to make a contribution in this regard. Structuration Theory and Actor-Network Theory were employed to analyse how non-technical factors influence IT strategy. Structuration Theory holds that human actions are enabled and constrained by structures. Structures are rules and resources that do not exist independently of human action, nor are they material entities. Giddens describes them as ‘traces in the mind’ and argues that they exist only through the action of human beings. Actor Network Theory (ANT) provides a fresh perspective on the importance of relationships between actors that are both human and non-human. By their very presence, actors work to establish, maintain and revise the construction of organisational networks of aligned interests and gradually form stable actor-networks. ANT emphasises the heterogeneous nature of actor-networks which consist of and link together both technical and non-technical elements.

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