Social Practices and Dynamic Non-Humans

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xvii

   PDF

2. Dynamic Non-humans in a Changing World

   • Yolande Strengers, Cecily Maller

   Pages 1-21

3. Nature, Materiality and Processes

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 23-23

      PDF

   2. Thriving in the Anthropocene: Understanding Human-Weed Relations and Invasive Plant Management Using Theories of Practice

      • Jennifer Atchison

      Pages 25-46

   3. Seeing Wood for the Trees: Placing Biological Processes Within Practices of Heating and Harvesting

      • Jenny Rinkinen

      Pages 47-62

   4. ‘Dynamic’ Non-human Animals in Theories of Practice: Views from the Subaltern

      • Paula Arcari

      Pages 63-86

   5. Dynamic Bodies in Theories of Social Practice: Vibrant Materials and More-than-Human Assemblages

      • Cecily Maller

      Pages 87-107

   6. Mobile Drinking: Bottled Water Practices and Ontological Politics

      • Gay Hawkins

      Pages 109-128

   7. Immersed in Thermal Flows: Heat as Productive of and Produced by Social Practices

      • Elspeth Oppermann, Gordon Walker

      Pages 129-148

4. Technologies, Automation and Performativity

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 149-149

      PDF

   2. Displacement: Attending to the Role of Things in Theories of Practice Through Design Research

      • Ron Wakkary, Sabrina Hauser, Doenja Oogjes

      Pages 151-171

   3. How Software Matters: Connective Tissue and Self-Driving Cars

      • Janine Morley

      Pages 173-192

   4. Automated Artefacts as Co-performers of Social Practices: Washing Machines, Laundering and Design

      • Lenneke Kuijer

      Pages 193-214

   5. Robots and Roomba Riders: Non-human Performers in Theories of Social Practice

      • Yolande Strengers

      Pages 215-234

   6. Automation, Smart Homes and Symmetrical Anthropology: Non-humans as Performers of Practices?

      • Kirsten Gram-Hanssen

      Pages 235-253

5. Back Matter

   Pages 255-264

   PDF

The robots are coming! So too is the ‘age of automation’, the march of ‘invasive’ species, more intense natural disasters, and a potential cataclysm of other unprecedented events and phenomena of which we do not yet know, and cannot predict. This book is concerned with how to account for these non-humans and their effects within theories of social practice. In particular, this provocative collection tackles contemporary debates about the roles, relations and agencies of constantly changing, disruptive, intelligent or otherwise 'dynamic' non-humans, such as weather, animals and automated devices. In doing so contributors challenge and take forward existing understandings of dynamic non-humans in theories of social practice by reconsidering their potential roles in everyday life. The book will benefit sociology, geography, science and technology studies, and human- (and animal-) computer interaction design scholars seeking to make sense of the complex entanglement of non-human phenomenaand things in the performance of social practices.

• post humaniam
• human geography
• social theory
• cultural studies
• science and technology studies
• social practices
• environmental change
• social change

“Theories of practice have insufficiently explored the significance of nonhumans for social life. This splendid collection quickly fills this lacuna, pushing theories of practice to question their residual humanism and to explore such ideas as nonhumans co-performing practices. The book examines an impressive range of such entities, from organisms, water, and heat to robots, automated devices, and software. Exciting reading for anyone interested in the evolving dynamics of social life!” (Professor Ted Schatzki, University of Kentucky, USA)

“The chapters in this volume are like drawings in an artist’s sketchbook, each revealing aspects of the many and changing interactions of which social practices are made.” (Professor Elizabeth Shove, Lancaster University, UK)

“This thought provoking book addresses a central issue of contemporary practice theories: do practices need humans to exist? Can non-humans and more than human actants perform practices? By offering a range of empirically grounded answers the volume questions the inherent residual humanism of some versions of practice theory and offers original and innovative ways to overcome it.” (Professor Davide Nicolini, Warwick Business School, University of Warwick, UK)

• Centre for Urban Research, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia

  Cecily Maller, Yolande Strengers

Dr Cecily Maller is a Vice Chancellor's Senior Research Fellow and co-leader of the Beyond Behaviour Change Research Program, Centre for Urban Research, RMIT University, Australia.


Associate Professor Yolande Strengers is a Principal Research Fellow and co-leader of the Beyond Behaviour Change Research Program, Centre for Urban Research, RMIT University, Australia.

Policies and ethics