Justin Lewis

Final Project Proposal

October 15,  2009

CCR691

Overview

Motivation

When I applied to Syracuse University a little over a year ago, I had every intention of working with folks who did “digital” rhetoric studies.  Though my understanding of this particular subfield of the discipline was rather malformed and deficient, I did know that Collin Brooke and Adam Banks both dealt with issues of technology in theory and practice.  Since arriving here a couple of months ago, I have had ongoing conversations with Brian Bailie about the study of networks and Actor-Network Theory as this is one of his minor examination areas.  Further, when discussing with other CCR students my interests in the function of resistance networks and the flattening of social spaces in digital forums, I am often directed to Bruno Latour’s Reassembling the Social.  Because I am being referred to the same concepts, theories and authors by different folks across the program and because of my interest in the “social”l in the digital age, I would like to consider Actor-Network Theory my site of investigation for this assignment.

Scope

In my investigation, I intend to cover a couple of different areas.  First, I want to concentrate on reading a seminal theoretical work concerning Actor-Network Theory.  As such, I have included Latour’s Reassembling the Social in my bibliography.  Second, I would like to see what Actor-Network Theory looks like in large-scale research practice.  To meet this desire, I’ve decided to include Spinuzzi’s Network:  Theorizing Knowledge Work in Telecommunications.  To supplement these two book-length texts, I have chosen a collection of articles that speak to ANT and networks from inside of our own discipline (DeVoss 2005, Eyman 2009, Johnson-Eilola 2005, etc.) and from outside.  The articles I have selected from outside the discipline are concerned with two areas:  1) ANT and social/ecological justice, and 2) ANT and political agency.  Because of a lack of scholarship in Rhetoric and Composition on ANT, I have chosen to include some Activity Theory scholarship from our field as the analogs between ANT and Activity Theory are many.  To account for the methodological practices of ANT, I have selected a few articles that illustrate the influence of ethnomethodology in the planning and application of ANT-based research.  Finally, on the advice of Dr. Brooke, I have included two studies of activity theory (Kaptelinin & Nardi 2006, Spinuzzi 2007) to supplement my exploration of ANT in this research project.

Parameters

In constructing my working bibliography, I often found myself excluding scholarship to ensure a focused study.  As such, there are many ANT associated theories and practices for which this project cannot account.  In the interest of specificity, this project will not address ANT in the broader context of network theory and activity theory.  Also, this study will not attempt to account for the interplay between Latour’s theorization of ANT and Mark C. Taylor’s explanation of complexity theory.  Finally, as this project hopes to more fully realize the connection between ANT and CCR, my work will not account for the rich body of scholarship in Sociology concerning ANT with the exception of sociological studies focused on issues of social justice (i.e., no management and leadership studies).

Key Questions

1. What is Actor-Network Theory as articulated by Bruno Latour?
2. What important thinkers/theories/texts contributed to the development of Actor-Network Theory as offered by Latour?
3. How is Actor-Network Theory put into practice in the fields of cultural rhetoric, writing, and sociology?
4. How can Actor-Network Theory contribute to real-world qualitative or quantitative research?
5. What is ethnomethodology and how does it work in the context of Actor-Network Theory?
6. How can Actor-Network Theory be used to understand and construct active networks for social justice and sustainable living?
7. How does Actor-Network Theory account for agency and truth?
8. What enduring questions confront the field of Actor-Network Theory now and in the near future?
9. What are the relationships between ANT and Activity Theory?  How has Activity Theory been theorized in Rhetoric and Composition?

Rationale

I am confident there are a couple of different ways that this project will contribute to my overall development as an emerging scholar in the field.  First, as I am interested in the rhetoric of technology and the development and spread of social networks, this study will allow me to expand my familiarity with scholarship concerning these subjects in the disciplines of rhetoric and composition.  In addition, I hope to propose a lesser examination in network theory or the rhetoric of technology.  Working on this project will provide an opportunity to enhance my conversance with the scholarship in these two areas.  While I haven’t spent a good deal of time thinking about my dissertation topic yet, I am fairly certain that I will have to account for agency in my work.  As such, a thorough exploration of Actor-Network Theory will allow me to spend some time assessing the validity of the theory in the context of agency.  Finally, I know that Collin Brooke uses Latour and Actor-Network Theory as a theoretical underpinning in some of his own scholarship.  I hope to eventually work with Collin in preparation for exams, the dissertation and on collaborative scholarship.  With this goal in mind, I believe a deep understanding of the core concepts and problems of Actor-Network Theory would allow me to pitch myself more effectively as a dedicated student and collaborator[1].

Working Bibliography

DeVoss, Dànielle Nicole, Ellen Cushman, and Jeffrey T. Grabill. “Infrastructure and Composing: The When of New-Media Writing.” College Composition and Communication 57 1 (2005): 14-44. Print.

Elder-Vass, Dave. “Searching for Realism, Structure and Agency in Actor Network Theory.” The British Journal of Sociology 59 3 (2008): 455-73. Print.

Eyman, Douglas, Stephanie Sheffield, and Dànielle Nicole DeVoss. “Developing Sustainable Research Networks in Graduate Education.” Computers and Composition 26 1 (2009): 49-57. Print.

Holifield, Ryan. “Actor-Network Theory as a Critical Approach to Environmental Justice: A Case against Synthesis with Urban Political Ecology.” Antipode 41 4 (2009): 637-58. Print.

Hunter, Shona. “Oscillating Politics and Shifting Agencies: Equalities and Diversity Work and Actor Network Theory.” Equal Opportunities International 26 5 (2007): 402-19. Print.

Johnson-Eilola, J. “Living on the Surface:  Learning in the Age of Global Communication Networks.” Page to Screen:  Taking Literacy into the Electronic Era. Ed. Snyder, Ilana. London: Routledge, 1998. 185-210. Print.

Kaptelinin, Victor, and Bonnie A. Nardi. Acting with Technology Activity Theory and Interaction Design (Acting with Technology). New York: The MIT, 2006. Print.

Kemp, Thomas Barker and Fred O. “Network Theory:  A Postmodern Pedagogy for the Writing Classroom.” Computers and Community:  Teaching Composition in the Twenty-First Century Ed. Handa, Carolyn. Portsmouth: Boynton Cook, 1990. 1-27. Print.

Koschmann, Timothy. “Chat, Ethnomethodology, Distributed Cognition, Actor-Network Theory: Pick One.” Mind, Culture, and Activity 15 4 (2008): 361-65. Print

Latour, Bruno. Reassembling the Social:  An Introduction to Actor-Network Theory. New York Oxford University Press, 2006. Print.

Linstead, Stephen. “Ethnomethodology and Sociology: An Introduction.” The Sociological Review 54 3 (2006): 399-404. Print.

Potts, Liza. “Using Actor Network Theory to Trace and Improve Multimodal Communication Design.” Technical Communication Quarterly 18 3 (2009): 281-301. Print.

Rice, Jeff. “Urban Mappings: A Rhetoric of the Network.” RSQ: Rhetoric Society Quarterly 38 2 (2008): 198-218. Print.

Richardson, Pamela. “Agricultural Ethics, Neurotic Natures and Emotional Encounters: An Application of Actor-Network Theory.” Ethics, Place & Environment 7 3 (2004): 195-201. Print.

Rivers, Nathaniel A. “Some Assembly Required: The Latourian Collective and the Banal Work of Technical and Professional Communication.” Journal of Technical Writing & Communication 38 3 (2008): 189-206. Print.

Routledge, Paul, Andrew Cumbers, and Corinne Nativel. “Grassrooting Network Imaginaries: Relationality, Power, and Mutual Solidarity in Global Justice Networks.” Environment and Planning A 39 11 (2007): 2575-92. Print.

Rudy, Alan. “Actor-Network Theory, Marxist Economics, and Marxist Political Ecology*.” Capitalism Nature Socialism 16 6 (2005): 85-90. Print.

Spinuzzi, Clay. Network:  Theorizing Knowledge Work in Telecommunications. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2008. Print.

— “TEXTS OF OUR INSTITUTIONAL LIVES: Accessibility Scans and Institutional Activity: An Activity Theory Analysis.” College English 10.2 (2007): 189-201. Print.

Trauger, A. “Social Agency and Networked Spatial Relations in Sustainable Agriculture.” Area 41 2 (2009): 117-28. Print.

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[1] While the project I am working on in Collin’s CCR601 class deals tangentially with Actor-Network Theory, the real focus of my work in his class this semester is a genealogical tracing of Taylor’s complexity theory, Heideggarian being and the kairotic moment.  As such, I won’t be duplicating much, if any, work between CCR601 and CCR691.