The Shape of Seeing: An Ethnography of Phytolith Analysis
Date
2023-04-28
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Abstract
Phytolith analysis is the study of microscopic silica fossils which often take on the shape. of the plant cells in which they form. This thesis proposes that in order to understand the phytoliths’ original plant context, researchers conduct cycles of phytolith analysis consisting of
six stages – collection, processing, microscopy, analysis, interpretation, and inscription. However, there is not one consistent object of inquiry that is present during all six stages. Instead, researchers enact each stage around a different simulacrum which serves as a partial representation, or proxy, of the original plant context. Combining data from ethnographic methods with theory such as semiotics, enactment, and Actor Network Theory, this thesis proposes a model of decontextualization and recontextualization to explain how phytolith researchers translate meaning from one simulacrum to the next. In this model, analysts remove all non-essential context from one simulacrum, reinterpret the reduced form, and in doing so create a newly enacted simulacrum. Decontextualization and recontextualization occurs between each stage of analysis as well as over the course of a full cycle of research.
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Keywords
phytolith analysis, science and technology studies, actor network theory, enactment, semiotics
Citation
Thomas, K. (2023). The shape of seeing: an ethnography of phytolith analysis (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca.