Barthes's Xyloglossia: Structuralism and The Language of Wood

This article investigates Barthes's xyloglossia, his use of the motifs of tree and wood, with a view to exploring their implications for his work and for structuralism as a whole. Barthes's xyloglossia takes essentially three forms. First, the motif of the tree is associated with the critique of traditional philology undertaken by structural linguistics. Second, wood figures an idealized example of the material world associated in utopian terms with transparent language, transformative labour and fulfilment through play. Third, wood is conceived as a non-isotropic material, infinitely varied in consistency and density, serving as a model for a non-essentialist understanding of textuality and subjectivity. In tracing Barthes's xyloglossia across three decades, this article analyzes how the related motifs of tree and wood reveal some of the key paradoxes of Barthes's work and its relationship to structuralism (Lévi-Strauss) and actor-network theory (Latour).

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How do caves act?

Neolithic cave burials ◽

10.7228/manchester/9781526118868.003.0004 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 69-94

Author(s):

Rick Peterson

Keyword(s):

Network Theory ◽

Actor Network Theory ◽

Material World ◽

Actor Network ◽

Time Experience ◽

Object Agency ◽

The Way

This chapter addresses the question of what the agency of non-animate objects might imply for the study. It begins by discussing early archaeological applications of the ideas of Giddens and Bourdieu. It then moves on to discuss anthropological ideas about the agency of non-humans, in particular Ingold’s dwelling perspective and the idea of the taskscape. It suggests that the agency of inanimate objects has been conceptualised in two different ways. Gell’s ‘secondary agency’ is compared with Latour’s ‘actor-network theory’. These approaches are situated more broadly within developing Post-humanist interpretations of object agency. Understandings of time and temporality are also discussed within the same framework. The chapter follows Gell in using the distinction between A and B series time to construct an account of time experience based on the material world. B-series time is held to be a map of temporally ordered events. Material narratives of time and object biographies are shown to be central to this process, of particular importance is the way that changes to objects and places index the passage of time.

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Marxist morphologies

Focaal ◽

10.3167/fcl.2018.820102 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 2018 (82) ◽

pp. 16-34 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Michał Murawski

Keyword(s):

Network Theory ◽

Social Life ◽

Actor Network Theory ◽

Economic Base ◽

Assemblage Theory ◽

Material World ◽

Actor Network ◽

The Relationship

This article critiques assumptions made by urban anthropologists and other scholars of cities, focusing on currently fashionable theories of infrastructure, materiality, and complexity. It problematizes how scholarship informed by actor-network theory, assemblage theory and other varieties of (post)postmodernism uses morphological optics and metaphors to represent social life, the material world, and existence itself as necessarily “flat,” “complex” or “fuzzy.” As a corrective, it proposes reorienting our social morphologies with reference to a Marxist notion of infrastructure, founded on a dynamic understanding of the relationship between determining economic base and determined superstructure. It constructs its theoretical edifice with reference to the remaking of post-1945 Warsaw as a socialist city through property expropriation and monumental architectural and planning works, and post-1989 attempts to unmake its socialist character through property reprivatization and unplanning.

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

Journal of Information and Communication Technology ◽

10.32890/jict.9.2010.8097 ◽

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.

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The Action of Christian Buildings on their Chinese Environment

Studies in World Christianity ◽

10.3366/swc.2017.0179 ◽

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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Actor-Network Theory and Social Practice

Социологические исследования ◽

10.31857/s013216250009372-2 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 128-137

Author(s):

Irina Orlova ◽

Keyword(s):

Network Theory ◽

Social Practice ◽

Actor Network Theory ◽

Actor Network

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The model of an intelligent information security control system for supply chains based on the spatial concepts of the actor-network theory

Informatization and communication ◽

10.34219/2078-8320-2020-11-5-94-106 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 5 ◽

pp. 94-106

Author(s):

Y.M. Iskanderov ◽

◽

M.D. Pautov

Keyword(s):

Control System ◽

Information Security ◽

Supply Chains ◽

Network Theory ◽

Actor Network Theory ◽

Spatial Concepts ◽

Actor Network ◽

Information Security Management System ◽

Security Control ◽

Intelligent Information

Aim. The use of modern information technologies makes it possible to achieve a qualitatively new level of control in supply chains. In these conditions, ensuring information security is the most important task. The article shows the possibilities of applying the spatial concepts of the actor-network theory in the interests of forming a relevant intelligent information security management system for supply chains. Materials and methods. The article discusses a new approach based on the provisions of the actor-network theory, which makes it possible to form the structure of an intelligent information security control system for supply chains, consisting of three main functional blocks: technical, psychological and administrative. The incoming information security threats and the relevant system responses generated through the interaction of the system blocks were considered as enacting the three Law’s spaces: the space of regions, the space of networks and the space of fl uids. Results. It is shown that the stability of this system in the space of networks is a necessary condition for its successful functioning in the space of regions, and its resilience in the space of fl uids gained through the dynamic knowledge formation helps overcome the adverse effects of the fl uidity. The problems of the intentional / unintentional nature of information security threats, as well as the reactivity / proactivity of the corresponding responses of the intelligent information security management system for supply chains are investigated. Conclusions. The proposed approach showed the possibility of using such an interdisciplinary tool in the fi eld of information security as the concepts of the actor-network theory. The intelligent information security control system built on its basis ensures that almost all the features of solving information security problems in supply chains are taken into account.

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