Objects and spaces.

Law, John (2002) Objects and spaces. Theory, Culture and Society, 19 (5-6). pp. 91-105. ISSN 1460-3616

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Abstract

Law's article begins by restating the classical ANT position that objects do not exist `in themselves' but are the effect of a performative stabilization of relational networks. In addition, these material enactments inevitably have a spatial dimension; they simultaneously establish spatial conditions for objectual identity, continuity, and difference. Space must not be reified as a natural, pre-existing container of the social and the material, but is itself a performance. Moreover, there are multiple forms of spatiality beyond the Euclidean space of regions (e.g. networks and fluids), and objects may exist and achieve homeomorphism within several different spatial systems. Technologies such as the Zimbabwe Bush Pump present a fluid object which is able to exist and cohere without the presence of fixed boundaries or the permanence of a particular functional definition. The network logic, however, which gravitates towards stability and functionality, tends to exclude and silence this spatial Other. An alternative political ontology is needed which goes beyond the reification of network space in order to give voice to the fluid objects which escape its unidimensional functionality.

Item Type:
Journal Article
Journal or Publication Title:
Theory, Culture and Society
Uncontrolled Keywords:
/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/3300/3312
Subjects:
?? ant object • fluid • materiality • network • region • spatiality • topologysociology and political sciencegeneral social sciencessocial sciences(all)hm sociology ??
ID Code:
24298
Deposited By:
Deposited On:
06 Mar 2009 11:50
Refereed?:
Yes
Published?:
Published
Last Modified:
16 Jul 2024 08:27