|
|
|
| “SPACE OF PLACES”, “SPACE OF FLOWS” AND “SPACE OF ACTOR-NETWORKS”: FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF ANT |
| AI Shao-wei, MIAO Chang-hong |
| Research Center of River Civilization and Sustainable Development/College of Environment and Planning, Henan University, Kaifeng 475001, China |
|
|
|
|
Abstract "Space" is always regarded as the core of Geography Studies and becomes more and more complex for the reason of globalization. This paper aims to examine "space" from the perspective of Actor-network theory (ANT). After the 1980s, Kuhnian scientific paradigm theory was replaced by sociology-culture of science, a steam of Post-Kuhn theory, in which sociology of scientific knowledge (SSK) holds a dominant position. The Edinburgh School and the Paris School are the two centers of sociology of scientific knowledge and Bloor, Barnes, Latour, Callon and Law are the representative scholars of sociology of scientific knowledge. Edinburgh School established the "strong program" on which Paris School made criticism. While, Paris School put forward "general symmetry principle" which is regarded as "Copernican revolution" and made actor-network theory (ANT), based on SSK, which led to a revolution in the sociology of scientific knowledge. ANT provides a new way to research on human geography. Also, ANT emphasizes on the detailed, historical and practical dimension and explains the relationship between the human economic activities and the natural environment with the symmetry principle. Furthermore, ANT offers a new perspective for the study of human economic activities in different geographical spaces and explains the dialectical relations of macro and micro, the objectivity and the subjectivity, the absolute and the relative, and the universality and the particularity. ANT uses "actors" to present human and non-human factors, "actor networks" to present integrate nature and human society, and "translation" to link the actor networks as a "seamless web". The "space of place" which is from traditional theory, and "space of flows", which comes with globalization, will be explained by "space of actor networks" in ANT. Therefore, the concept of space will be understood comprehensively in the field of human geography.
|
|
Received: 13 October 2008
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2010, Vol. 25 
