For a constitutive pragmatics

Abstract

This paper proposes to explore the mechanisms by which speaking, writing and, more generally, interacting pragmatically contribute to the mode of being and acting of social forms, whether these forms be identities, relations or collectives. Such an approach to pragmatics, which we propose to call constitutive, amounts to showing, both theoretically and empirically, that human interactants are not the only ones who should be deemed as "doing things with words" (Austin 1975), but that other figures -which can take the form of policies, statuses, tools, groups, collectives, etc. -can also be identified as being active in a given situation, especially through the way they are mobilized and staged in interaction. According to this approach, interactions can therefore be considered dislocated loci where specific con-figurations are (re-)produced and embodied. As we will see, such a constitutive view also allows us to deal with issues of power, authority and responsibility, three questions that tend to be relatively marginalized in pragmatic studies, especially when a performative and interactive viewpoint is adopted. This paper proposes to explore the mechanisms by which speaking, writing and, more generally, interacting pragmatically contribute to the mode of being and acting of social forms, whether these forms be identities, relations or collectives. Such an approach to pragmatics, which we propose to call constitutive, amounts to showing, both theoretically and empirically, that human interactants are not the only ones who should be deemed as "doing things with words" (Austin 1975(Austin [1962), but that other figures -which can take the form of policies, statuses, tools, texts, groups, collectives, etc. -can also be identified as being active in a given situation, especially through the way they are mobilized and staged by

How things make things do things with words, or how to pay attention to what things have to say

“…While objects have been mostly theorized as either the supports of human language, the objects of human SPOKESTHINGS 23 conversations, or as exercising physical constraint on human activity, the fact empirically illustrated by the Bigville Tenants' Association case is that we humans create tools to listen to them and to translate what they have to say into a language we understand, and thus multiply the ways in which they participate in our actions. This has been hinted at in the extant organizational communication literature (Cooren & Matte, 2010), but has not yet been systematically discussed.…”

“…Paradoxically, it is because we want unmediated access to the world that we add more mediators that help us gain such access (Latour, 2005b). Cooren and Matte's (2010) discussion of a measuring stick used by Doctors Without Borders workers to decide who, among African children, may get help from a nutrition centre, may be read as such an attempt from physicians to downplay their own interpretation of the kids' health situation, and to let the 'talking' be made by the stick. This kind of argument will not appear new to those who are interested in the history of sciences or in sociotechnical controversies, in particular from a Science, Technology and Society (STS) perspective.…”

Property and Organization Studies

“…The materiality of property draws attention to the mechanisms that naturalize dispossession and disempowerment, but also invites us to think critically about how we deflect responsibility. For instance, a graduated stick used by Doctors Without Borders to identify children tall enough to receive medical care transfers the heartbreaking choice from each individual to the organization, so that it becomes its decision (Cooren & Matte, 2010). Materiality depersonalizes action, but in doing so, also incorporates it into the organizational body.…”

Rebuilding Babel: A Constitutive Approach to Tongues-in-use

“…We will rely on an excerpt from data collected by Frédérik Matte in his study of the humanitarian organization Médecins Sans Frontières, conducted with François REBUILDING BABEL 14 Cooren, which was the object of many publications based on observations in the Democratic Republic of Congo, in Kenya, in Sri Lanka, and elsewhere (e.g., Cooren & Matte, 2010;Cooren, Matte, Benoit-Barné, & Brummans, 2013). This ethnographic study focuses on the ways MSF workers organize themselves on a daily basis in order to accomplish their mission, that is, treating patients around the world.…”

“…The ability of the organization to exist and do things, therefore, is not a given, but rather the result of situated practices through which it is attributed action (Bencherki & Cooren, 2011), made present through talk and artifacts (Cooren et al, 2008;Cooren & Matte, 2010), populated with members (Bencherki & Snack, 2016) and vested with authority (Taylor & Van Every, 2014).…”