Journal of Technical Writing and Communication Jul 2008

Some Assembly Required: The Latourian Collective and the Banal Work of Technical and Professional Communication

Nathaniel A. Rivers Purdue University West Lafayette

Abstract

In this article, the author uses the critical vocabulary developed by Bruno Latour in his recent work Politics of Nature to offer an alternative way for technical and professional communicators to approach and articulate their work. Using the Discovery Channel's Mythbusters to explore Latour's vocabulary, the author argues that positioning technical and professional communication as more than transmitting and translating, but instead as the collecting of articulated propositions about the common world in service of the common good, thoroughly grounds its practice in rhetorical theory. Such a positioning also ascribes value to technical and professional communication without reinscribing the false dichotomy between science and politics.

Journal
Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
Published
2008-07-01
DOI
10.2190/tw.38.3.b
Open Access
Closed
Topics
rhetorical theory professional writing

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (5)

  1. Duncan (2022)
    “Expanding Ethical Pedagogy in Technical Communication: Learning from Killer Na…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  2. Weber (2020)
    The News from Mars
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  3. Walkup et al. (2018)
    Health Ecologies in Addiction Treatment: Rhetoric of Health and Medicine and Co…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  4. Rivers et al. (2016)
    Speculative Usability
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  5. Salvo et al. (2010)
    The Children of Aramis
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication

Cites in this index (0)

No references match articles in this index.

Also cites 3 works outside this index ↓
  1. 10.4159/9780674039964
     ↗
  2. 10.1525/9780520353237
     ↗
  3. 10.7551/mitpress/6875.001.0001
     ↗
CrossRef global citation count: 6 View in citation network →

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