Diving in magma: how to explore controversies with actor-network theory

TLDR

The cartography of controversies, a set of techniques for exploring and visualizing socio‑technical debates, originated as a didactic adaptation of Actor‑Network Theory by Bruno Latour and has since become a full research method used in universities across Europe and the US, yet remains poorly documented. To fill this lack of documentation, we draw on our experience as Latour’s teaching assistant to introduce the main techniques of the social cartographer toolkit. The paper concentrates on exploration methods, deferring discussion of visualization tools to a subsequent study.

Abstract

The cartography of controversies is a set of techniques to explore and visualize issues. It was developed by Bruno Latour as a didactic version of Actor-Network Theory to train college students in the investigation of contemporary socio-technical debate. The scope and interest of such cartography, however, exceed its didactic origin. Adopted and developed in several universities in Europe and the US, the cartography of controversies is today a full research method, though, unfortunately, not a much documented one. To fill this lack of documentation, we draw on our experience as Latour’s teaching assistant, to introduce some of the main techniques of the social cartographer toolkit. In particular, in these pages we will focus on exploration, leaving the discussion of visualization tools to a further paper.