Beyondthelocal.Makingsenseof‘largephenomena’fromaprac9ce-basedperspec9ve

DavideNicoliniIkon,UniversityofWarwick

Centralissue!   Howcanweuseaprac;ce-based

sensi;vitytoaddressbigissuesand‘largescalephenomena’

!   Examplesoflargephenomena:func;oningofthefinancialmarket,largeins;tu;onalarrangements,theeduca;onsystem,bureaucracyandthefutureoftheplanet

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Threebroadstrategies

!   Rhizoma;csensi;vity!   Examinetheglobalinthelocalprac;ce!   Studyanddoscalography

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Prac9ce-basedorienta9on

Thebasicdomainofstudyofthesocial[are]socialprac;cesorderedacrossspaceand;me

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(Giddens1984,p.2)

Flatvs.mul9levelontology!   Prac;cetheoryorientstowardsaflat

‘rela;onal’ontology!   Notallprac;ceorientedscholarsbelievein

aflatontology!   Bourdieu,Giddens,Fairclough,Glynos&

Horwarthdonotbelieveinflatontology

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Howtoopera9onalisearhizoma9csensi9vity

!   Largescalephenomenaasafabricofinterconnectedprac;ces:frommetaphortomethod

!   Bundle,nexus,texture,mesh,ac;onnetaremetaphorsandsimiles

!   Howdoyoudoitinprac;ce?

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Kemmis:analysingprac9cesandtheirarchitectures(‘contexture’)

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!   Peoplebringsociomaterialprac;cesintobeingbutnotundercondi;onsoftheirchoosing

Kemmis:analysingprac9cesandtheirarchitectures(‘contexture’)

Elementsoftheprac9ce Prac9cearchitecture

Projectguidingtheprac9ce Prac9celandscape

Sayings Discursivecondi9ons

Doings Materialeconomicarrangement

Rela9ngs Socialpoli9calarrangement

Disposi9ons(Knowledge,skills,rela;onalorienta;on)

Prac9cetradi9on

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Analysingecologiesofprac9ces!   Interdependencies,influenceand

hospitability(SchatzkimeetsHabermas)

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Example:educa9onasanecologyofprac9ces(Kemmisetal.,2014)

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Uncoveringnestedrela9onalitybytracingtrans-situatedprac9ces

!   Largescalesocialphenomenaemergefromtheac;verela;onshipsbetweenhighlylocalizedformsofac;vi;es

!   Rela;onalpresence:eachoftheseprac;cecons;tutethecontextforeachotherlocallyfirstandtrans-locallylater.

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Example:reinsurancemarket(Jarzabkowskietal.2015)

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Findingtheglobalinthelocal!   Iden;fyaspecificsiteofengagement!   Adendtosocialarrangement,historical

body,livedexperience!   Iden;fywhatarethecrucialdiscourses

opera;nginthescene!   Naviga;ngthesediscourses“asawayof

seeinghowthosemomentsarecons;tutedoutofpastprac;cesandhowinturntheyleadtonewformsofac;on…”

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Nexusanalysis(Scollon&Scollon)

!   Performingandperpetua;ngracialinequality

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Studyingscalographicprac9ces!   Scalography:thestudyofthescoping

technologiesandtherepresenta;onac;vi;esthroughwhichspecificclassesofprac;;onersconstructandcirculate‘largescalephenomena’

!   Armycommandrooms;railwaycontrolcentres;stockmarket;citycontrolcentres

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Doingreflexivescalography!   Cratemacro-prac;cesoutofcollec;onof

localinstances!   Usetoconstructnarra;vesofgrowth,

survivalanddisappearanceatalargespa;alandtemporalscale

!   Explaindynamicbasedonlocalevents

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Example:showeringvsbathingcompe99on

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Bigissuesand‘largescalephenomena’fromaPBperspec9ve!   Rethinksomeentrencheddis;nc;ons!   Differencesinscaleareproducedin

prac;ceandthroughprac;ces!   Usemorethanonescaleatthesame;me

movingskilfullyfromoneanother!   Resistthetempta;ontostudynexuses,

assemblagesandbundlesofprac;cesinandofthemselves

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