Ethnographies of Higher Education and Modes of Existence: using Latour's philosophical anthropology to construct faithful accounts of higher education practice

Tummons, J.

Abstract

Bruno Latour, one of the architects of actor-network theory, has now enfolded this approach within a larger project, An Inquiry into Modes of Existence – AIME. Framed as an empirical inquiry into the ontological and epistemological conditions of modernity, Latour argues for a radical shift in how “objective truth,” “scientific fact,” and “meaning” are established within the world. In this chapter, I draw on several elements of AIME to illustrate how Latour’s ontology, building on, augmenting and responding to criticisms of actor-network theory, can be used to explore higher education, focussing on one episode derived from a larger ethnography of medical education.

Citation

Tummons, J. (2019). Ethnographies of Higher Education and Modes of Existence: using Latour's philosophical anthropology to construct faithful accounts of higher education practice. In J. Huisman, & M. Tight (Eds.), Theory and method in higher education research (207-223). Emerald. https://doi.org/10.1108/s2056-375220190000005013

• Online Publication Date: Oct 7, 2019
• Publication Date: Oct 7, 2019
• Deposit Date: Sep 3, 2019
• Publicly Available Date: Oct 23, 2019
• Publisher: Emerald
• Pages: 207-223
• Series Title: Theory and method in higher education research
• Book Title: Theory and method in higher education research.
• ISBN: 9781838678425
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/s2056-375220190000005013
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1631218