Development Studies Research and Actor-Network Theory

Abstract

This paper encourages greater use of actor-network theory (ANT) in development studies research, and introduces some of the papers that follow in the ANT4D working paper series. The main purpose is to provide development studies researchers with sufficient background on ANT to determine whether or not they might wish to use it in their work. Following a brief introduction to the novelty of ANT, the paper explains its main features via a short ANT primer that acknowledges some critique and limitations. ANT has been little used within development studies to date. Alongside some hypothesised reasons, the paper regrets this lack of association, analysing the relevance of actor-network theory to current trends in both development thinking and development practice. That relevance is instantiated via a summary overview of seven papers in the working paper series. This paper concludes by summarising the issues in introducing an unfamiliar theory to a discipline, and by outlining some of the development research questions that ANT may be particularly good at addressing.