Cultivating Recalcitrance in Information Systems Research

Sørensen, Carsten; Whitley, Edgar A.; Madon, Shirin; Klyachko, Dasha; Hosein, Ian; Johnstone, Justine

doi:10.1007/978-0-387-35489-7_20

Cited by 5 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…To further elaborate on the relationship between strategies of visualization and ontological issues it is helpful to emphasize the notion of ‘recalcitrant objects’ introduced earlier. Sørensen et al (2001) , building on Latour (2000) and Stengers (1997) , describe recalcitrance as the lack of susceptibility to control or authority: Recalcitrance is an attribute of things being studied and refers to the extent to which they are uninterested in the ‘questions being asked of them’. Recalcitrant objects provide answers on their own terms, rather than those of the authorities studying them; they can object.…”

Section: Recalcitrant Objects and Transactional Politicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Surveillance at sea: The transactional politics of border control in the Aegean

2017

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The relationship between vision and action is a key element of both practices and conceptualizations of border surveillance in Europe. This article engages with what we call the ‘operative vision’ of surveillance at sea, specifically as performed by the border control apparatus in the Aegean. We analyse the political consequences of this operative vision by elaborating on three examples of fieldwork conducted in the Aegean and on the islands of Chios and Lesbos. One of the main aims is to bring the figure of the migrant back into the study of border technologies. By combining insights from science and technology studies with border, mobility and security studies, the article distinguishes between processes of intervention, mobilization and realization and emphasizes the role of migrants in their encounter with surveillance operations. Two claims are brought forward. First, engaging with recent scholarly work on the visual politics of border surveillance, we circumscribe an ongoing ‘transactional politics’. Second, the dynamic interplay between vision and action brings about a situation of ‘recalcitrance’, in which mobile objects and subjects of various kinds are drawn into securitized relations, for instance in encounters between coast guard boats and migrant boats at sea. Without reducing migrants to epiphenomena of those relations, this recalcitrance typifies the objects of surveillance as both relatable as well as resistant, particularly in the tensions between border control and search and rescue.

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Section: Recalcitrant Objects and Transactional Politicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Recalcitrant objects provide answers on their own terms, rather than those of the authorities studying them; they can object. ( Sørensen et al, 2001 : 301)…”

Section: Recalcitrant Objects and Transactional Politicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Surveillance at sea: The transactional politics of border control in the Aegean

2017

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“…Latour 2005), this literature explores how technology itself resists by betraying the original intent behind its introduction. "In this way, the technology is seen to have agency in much the same ways as human elements of the organisation" (Sørensen et al 2001). When chemical reactions blow up laboratories, particles resist manipulation by human controllers.…”

Section: Information Systemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding resistance to digital surveillance: Towards a multi-disciplinary, multi-actor framework

Martin¹,

Brakel²,

Bernhard³

2009

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Despite being central to the dynamics of surveillance, the concept of resistance remains underdeveloped within the surveillance studies corpus. We review theoretical work on surveillance before summarising the main treatments of resistance from within surveillance studies. We find that the majority of resistance literature in surveillance studies is focussed on resistance relations between the surveyor and the surveilled, and neglects other relevant actors. To expand the list of relevant actors, we look to what other disciplines have to say about the who and the how of resistance. Using these lessons, we then elaborate a multi-actor framework to better understand complex resistance relationships. Beyond the surveyor and the surveilled, surveillance authorities, commercial enterprises, international governmental and non-governmental agencies, and the surveillance technologies themselves form a complex resistance nexus, capable of resisting and being resisted in a diversity of ways. Further, we conclude that these distinctive roles produce unique methods, directions and opportunities for resistance. The roles of these additional actors will be demonstrated through a discussion of the United Kingdom National Identity Scheme, where we believe they are presently engaged in a series of multi-level, multi-actor resistance relationships at various stages of the scheme’s development.

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“…In addition, the underlying tensions between systems developers and potential users have been deconstructed (Beath and Orlikowski 1994;Markus and Bj 0rn-Andersen 1987) and highlighted through studies of differences in perspectives (Lyytinen 1987;Robey et al 1993). Recent IFIP Working Group 8.2 conferences have had a variety of papers focusing on resistance (for examples, see Allen and Kern, 2001;Sorensen et al 2001;Whitley and Hosein 2001;Wilson and Howcroft 2000). I Although ANT has found an audience in IS research (see Walsham 1997), other variants of SST have been largely ignored.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rhetoric of Enrollment and Acts of Resistance: Information Technology as Text

Wilson

2003

IFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technology

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Melanie Wilson UMIST Manchester School of Management Manchester EnglandThe focus of this paper is resistance; it deals with the problem of takingfor granted the success of the mobilization of power involved in representational practices. The paper describes the metaphor of the technology as text as proposed by social shaping of technology (SST) approaches and suggests how this metaphor can be applied to information systems. This is done by focusing on the discrepancies between rhetoric of enrollment to the use of technologies and the experience of actual usage, implying such discrepancies lead to, or are a result of acts of resistance. Adopting a critical approach and employing some analytical tools developed by SST, it is argued that texts can be unpicked by active users. This is illustrated by a case study of a hospital information systems. The usefulness of the approach and tools are then assessed in discussion prior to a brief assessment of the paper in conclusion.

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Cultivating Recalcitrance in Information Systems Research

Abstract: ABSTRACT

Cited by 5 publications

References 23 publications

Surveillance at sea: The transactional politics of border control in the Aegean

Surveillance at sea: The transactional politics of border control in the Aegean

Understanding resistance to digital surveillance: Towards a multi-disciplinary, multi-actor framework

Rhetoric of Enrollment and Acts of Resistance: Information Technology as Text

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