Caronia2015

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Caronia2015
BibType ARTICLE
Key Caronia2015
Author(s) Letizia Caronia
Title Totem and taboo: the embarrassing epistemic work of things in the research setting
Editor(s)
Tag(s) EMCA, conversation analysis, material agency, multimodal communication, recording devices, reflexivity, research interaction
Publisher
Year 2015
Language English
City
Month
Journal Qualitative Research
Volume 15
Number 2
Pages 141–165
URL Link
DOI 10.1177/1468794113517392
ISBN
Organization
Institution
School
Type
Edition
Series
Howpublished
Book title
Chapter

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Abstract

Recent research on multimodal communication in the material world shows how things matter in social contexts and make a traceable difference in the unfolding of interactions. Interestingly enough, the artifacts typically used as tools of inquiry (i.e. the recording devices) are rarely deemed worthy of similar analytical attention, as if they were irrelevant or inconsequential to the organization of social interaction taking place in the field. Adopting a theoretical framework on distributed and hybrid agency, this article discusses and empirically shows how these objects play a crucial role in defining the institutional goal of the interaction and, therefore, contribute to the crafting of the data. The analysis of examples from a collection of references made to the recording devices in different research interactions illustrates the circumstances in which these references occur and the activities accomplished by participants by referring to these embarrassing’ objects. In the discussion we propose that the analytical underestimation of the role of things ‘talked-into being’ in the research setting is consistent with and can contribute to a vision of research practices as a mirror of the social reality out there.

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