Nonhumans Unbound: Actor-Network Theory and the Reconsideration of "Things" in Educational Foundations

The aim of this paper is to call attention to the missing discourse of non-humans as social actors in the Social Foundations of Education. The paper outlines three common figuring metaphors that impede the adoption of such a theoretical discourse and shows how Actor-Network Theory (ANT), more recently developed in the nascent field of Science and Technology Studies (STS), reframes sociological theory--and specifically, what it means to be a "social actor"--to allow for a more comprehensive accounting of the interactions of humans and nonhumans in the fabrication of the social. A corollary aim of the paper is to highlight the role of nonhumans in contemporary educational concerns. The paper also offers a range of different examples to illustrate its points. (Contains 8 notes.)