The Haunting Question of Textual Agency: Derrida and Garfinkel on Iterability and Eventfulness

Cooren, François

doi:10.1080/08351810802671735

Cited by 42 publications

(33 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…Moreover, the Derridaean conceptual background that inspires this analytical framework offers promising avenues to study the role of communication in (dis)organizing processes. The work of Derrida has rarely been mobilized in the organizational and management literatures (for exceptions, see Brummans, 2007;Cooren, 2009;Griffin et al, forthcoming). Yet, as we showed in this paper, his work can strongly contribute to a subtle understanding of the dynamics of (written) language (i.e., presence/absence) and, more specifically, account for the role of texts in organizations, from a non-dualistic and processual perspective (see also Cooren, 2004).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Summoning the spirits: Organizational texts and the (dis)ordering properties of communication

2015

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This article addresses the question: Why does disorder tend to simultaneously accompany efforts to create order when organizing? Adopting a communication-centered perspective, we specifically examine the role of texts in the mutual constitution of order and disorder. Drawing on empirical material from three qualitative case studies on project organizing, we show that attempts of ordering through language use and texts (i.e., by closing and fixing meaning) tend to induce disorder (i.e., by opening the possibility of multiple meanings), at the same time. As we contend, these (dis)ordering dynamics play a key role in the communicative constitution of organizations, keeping them in motion by calling forth continuous processes of meaning (re-) negotiation.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Summoning the spirits: Organizational texts and the (dis)ordering properties of communication

2015

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“…The suggestion that organizations are not either present or absent, but rather at once present and absent (Cooren et al, 2009) is not new in itself. Karl E. Weick (1979,1995,2010) has shown over the years that an organization partially epitomizes a mirage or a myth that always eludes us.…”

Section: Presence and Absencementioning

confidence: 98%

“…Wherever we go, it seems, the organization follows us, haunts us (Bencherki & Cooren, 2011;Cooren, 2009): like the devotee who is inhabited by a spirit, organizational members and researchers are made to do things by the organization they belong to and that possesses them in return. Their values creep into our hearts, their procedures guide our actions, their symbols adorn our clothes, their technologies mediate our understanding of the world.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Being Followed by an Organization

Matte¹,

Bencherki²

2018

Methodological and Ontological Principles of Observation and Analysis

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“…"For another next first time" is a the very nice expression used by Garfinkel to express both the iterable and eventful character of action, which, in many respects, parallels Derrida's (1990) analysis of (speech) acts (see Cooren, 2009a). As Rawls points out, "Each next first time" signifies that while each next case of action is different, each next case of a particular recognizable sort of action must also be "another" one of something that has been recognized before.…”

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confidence: 89%

For a constitutive pragmatics

Cooren

Matte²

2010

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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

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The Haunting Question of Textual Agency: Derrida and Garfinkel on Iterability and Eventfulness

Cited by 42 publications

References 33 publications

Summoning the spirits: Organizational texts and the (dis)ordering properties of communication

Summoning the spirits: Organizational texts and the (dis)ordering properties of communication

Being Followed by an Organization

For a constitutive pragmatics

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