Things

Abstract

This chapter attends to critics favouring things or nature before meanings or culture. Bruno Latour’s Actor-Network Theory is one obvious such example. While it strives away from criticism and deconstructs dichotomies like human/nonhuman and culture/nature, there are those who still think it can make room for culture, meaning and interpretation. Next, Karen Barad’s radicalisation of Donna Haraway’s deconstruction of the nature/culture divide is discussed, as it rejects representations in favour of mutual and intra-active implications of matter and meaning. Sara Ahmed’s and Judith Butler’s responses to such “new materialist” challenges are summarised. Then, Lawrence Grossberg, Brian Massumi and Nigel Thrift are presented as voices in cultural studies who shun away from mediation, meaning and culture in favour of practices, bodies and materiality.