The Faculty of Humanities of the University of Manchester organises arts and humanities research methods seminars to promote methodological excellence, encourage innovation and interdisciplinarity, and contribute to the North West’s creative economy. I convened several workshops, which were attended by more than 60 doctoral researchers across the fields of Anthropology, Archaeology, Architecture, Area Studies, Business, Conflict Resolution, Development, Drama, Education, Geography, History, Languages, Law, Music, Planning, and Theology. The following is a summary.
Methods for Finding Sociotechnical Associations
(Spring 2019 & Spring 2021)
Synopsis: Modern life’s complexity is impossible without all sorts of objects mediating human action. This workshop offers an introduction to the concepts of “script” (Akrich & Latour, 1992) and “associated milieu” (Simondon, 1958/2017), where objects are relational and dynamic actors (not artefacts) that mediate human relations with the world. The workshop should interest PGRs in the humanities and social sciences who want to employ methods for finding sociotechnical associations and tracing networks of human-nonhuman agencies in primary and/or secondary sources.
Outcome: The workshop allows researchers to identify “scripts” of technical mediation; trace “de-scription,” or how scripts get appropriated, by users; identify the grounding/association of technical objects in their environment (milieu); and draw a diagram of technical relations that allow a technical object to exist
The Politics of Technical Objects
(Spring 2021)
Synopsis: The work of philosopher of technology Gilbert Simondon is extremely relevant at present to exploring relationships of humans and technical objects. This seminar briefly introduces Simondon’s work, particularly On the Mode of Existence of Technical Objects (1958/2017), where technical beings stand on equal political footing with human beings. The seminar should be of interest to PGRs in the humanities and social sciences who want to explore relational technical objects as political agents of progress, through their coherent technical development and their grounding in the environment.
Outcome: The workshop allows researchers to read a philosophical text from Gilbert Simondon; explain a theory of human-nonhuman associations; develop a methodology to analyse technical objects; and make connections with Actor-Network Theory and Assemblage Theory.
Striated Space: Re-conceptualising Visual Mapping
(Spring 2018)
Synopsis: Many researchers continue to use and re-use traditional cartographic representations of the world such as standard world and country maps. Regardless of the different projection methods, these maps remain re-presentations that can be characterised as top-down, hierarchical, structural, flat, and static. They are re-presentations of what philosophers Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari call “striated space,” i.e., the structured space of large-scale modern institutions such as the state.
Outcome: The workshop allows researchers to re-present their findings on territories of power using alternative cartographic methods. It suggests re-conceptualizing visual mapping as modes of flow and intensity, and it includes examples from scholars like Michel Foucault and Bruno Latour and creative collectives like Visualizing Palestine.
Researching Covert Organisations
(Fall 2017)
Synopsis: Our contemporary era is witnessing more discussions about access to information, governmental and corporate operations transparency, and enabling accountability. This is a tough operational context for academic researchers who must innovate with research methods to acquire their research data while still maintaining high ethical standards. So, how doe we discuss methods of “studying up, down, and sideways” (Laura Nader, 1969, p. 307; quoted in González, 2012, p. 23) and maintain reflexivity in the research process and outputs through “writing the researcher(s) into their work” (Higate & Cameron, 2006, p. 220)?
Outcome: The workshop allows researchers to question the usefulness and efficacy of quasi-ethnographic approaches and digital humanities methods, particularly when researching large-scale covert organisations such as the military, law enforcement, corporations, science labs, think tanks, and others.
