Ethnography, materiality, and the principle of symmetry: problematising anthropocentrism and interactionism in the ethnography of education

Tummons, J.; Beach, D.

Abstract

In this article we draw on actor-network theory (ANT) in order to challenge the methodological and empirical orthodoxies of anthropocentrism and interactionism that have long informed dominant discourses of ethnographic work. We use ANT to open new possibilities for understanding education as emergent in relational fields where non-human forces are as equally necessary as and possess an agency equivalent to, human forces: the principle of symmetry. We argue that this generates important conceptual as well as political possibilities in constituting different possible outcomes in the accomplishment of ethnographies of education. We draw attention to the problematic of the decentring of the human subject and the critical investigation of the interface between people and objects that frame this special issue, and also propose a methodological response framed by a commitment to empirical research through ethnography as well as a theoretical response framed by relational materialism, operationalised here through recourse to ANT.

Citation

Tummons, J., & Beach, D. (2020). Ethnography, materiality, and the principle of symmetry: problematising anthropocentrism and interactionism in the ethnography of education. Ethnography and Education, 15(3), 286-299. https://doi.org/10.1080/17457823.2019.1683756

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Oct 18, 2019
• Online Publication Date: Oct 28, 2019
• Publication Date: 2020
• Deposit Date: Oct 30, 2019
• Publicly Available Date: Apr 28, 2021
• Journal: Ethnography and Education
• Print ISSN: 1745-7823
• Electronic ISSN: 1745-7831
• Publisher: Taylor and Francis Group
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 15
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 286-299
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/17457823.2019.1683756
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1286238