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

Abstract

In this article we draw on actor-network theory (ANT), an established branch of a broader approach to social and interpretivist inquiry that is described in terms of sociomaterialism, relational materialism or material semiotics, in order to challenge the methodological and empirical orthodoxies of anthropocentrism and interactionism that have for a long time informed dominant discourses of ethnographic work. We draw on paradigmatic concepts from ANT to open up new possibilities for understanding education processes as emergent in relational fields where non-human forces are as equally necessary as and possess an agency equivalent to, human forces: this is described in actornetwork theory as the principle of symmetry. We argue that such a shift, exemplified here by ANT but not restricted to it, generates important conceptual as well as political possibilities in constituting different possible outcomes in the accomplishment of ethnographies of education. In this way, 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, operationalized here through recourse to ANT.

On Developments in Ethnographic Research: The Case of Two Swedish Universities

“…The discussion of the results we have obtained reflects and also adds to our earlier discussion of the history of ethnography in the early parts of the article and in earlier articles (Beach, 2010b; Larsson, 2006; Tummons & Beach, 2020). This history suggested that both ‘globally’ and nationally ethnography in education research is a methodology that is generally in constant flux, but that also exhibits relatively short periods of local stability in terms of the common markers of method, which may then become future suturing criteria for the identity of ethnographic work.…”

“…The turn was then generally followed by an initialising period of consolidation, a period of quantitative take off and later some diversification (Beach, 2010b; Beach et al, 2018; Casimiro Lopes & de Lourdes Rangel Tura, 2018; Eisenhart, 2018; Hammersley, 2018). Growth and diversification can threaten existing research identities and hegemony in a field of course, which some members of the research community may experience as rather challenging and may resist (Sieber Egger & Unterweger, 2018; Tummons & Beach, 2020).…”

“…The use of these methods and practices as indicators of the presence of ethnographic intent showed clearly that long-term participant observation did not empty the definitions of what ethnography might involve, how it might be defined, and what substantive issues might be analysed, where, or in what kind of media (Tummons & Beach, 2020). Instead, it indicated that ethnography of education has been debated for decades across different geographic reaches, disciplines and times, and in relation to different subjects and interests, such that differences in practice and reasoning existed in abundance (Walford, 2018).…”

Higher education, theory, and modes of existence: thinking about universities with Latour

“…Should we include or ignore those human actors who are not 'academic'? Ought the quality of 'academic' be ascribed primarily to people, effectively maintaining an anthropocentric interactionist standpoint, or should it always be ascribed to the non-human as well as human actor, thereby foregrounding the principle of symmetry (Tummons and Beach, 2019)?…”

Editorial

“…changing societal expectations (see Tummons and Beach 2020), what is often lost is attention to universities' civic responsibilities and education for the 'public good' (Giroux 2010). This arguably involves supporting people to participate meaningfully in society (see Altbach et al 2009;Giroux 2010) and contributing to the creation of a society worth participating in (Kemmis et al 2014).…”