Actor-network Approach in Area Studies

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

This study attempted to explore the possibilities for us to apply actor-network theory (ANT) to area studies. In other words, we tried to describe and analyze events and phenomena (such as development, local technology, and air base problems) as dynamic and heterogeneous networks of human beings, things and signs. After reorganizing our field data in terms of ANT concepts and also examining new trends in ANT and its related theories, the following points were made clear.1). ANT, which has originally been developed to analyze science and technology, has not a sufficient analytical vocabulary for those events and phenomena mentioned above in area studies. It appeared to us that a new vocabulary is required to be added to ANT.2). We came across two interesting theories which seem to be compatible with ANT, namely, ecological psychology (EP) and Mediology(ME). EP analyzes a human activity as a complex process of mediation between human(s) and cultural tools (language, tool, technology objects etc.). ME discuses about how an ideology is historically mediated with institutions and things to get its power. We then came to realize that these two vocabularies might contribute to elaborating ANT's theoretical and methodological discussions further. For instance, we may be able to replace the key concept of network in ANT with that of mediation in EP and ME to emphasize the process of enrolling various actants.3). Through the above examination, we are able to restate a new ANT framework as a complex historical mediation among human(s) and cultural tools including institutions and ideologies. This finding might give us a wider perspective in the above studies.