Assembling Paperwork and Material Infrastructures: A New Materialist Inquiry on Modern State Formation
This paper looks at nonhuman forms of state formation. The state is a socio-material assemblage of human and nonhuman materials, technologies, natural forces, and etc.. It is neither a rational human actor or an instrument, nor is it an ideologic reification that conceals real social domination and...
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| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Istanbul University Press
2024-04-01
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| Series: | Siyasal: Journal of Political Sciences |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://cdn.istanbul.edu.tr/file/JTA6CLJ8T5/708C9A36EDF5464CA906F3524AA721B0 |
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| Summary: | This paper looks at nonhuman forms of state formation. The state is a socio-material assemblage of human and nonhuman materials, technologies, natural forces, and etc.. It is neither a rational human actor or an instrument, nor is it an ideologic reification that conceals real social domination and exploitation, nor is it a sociolinguistic construction that codifies multiple and dispersed governmental techniques. The fact that the state is constructed does not preclude it from being an actual entity with real effects. This paper considers paperwork and infrastructure as apparent materializations of state power. Paper production and its circulation within routine bureaucratic practices, as well as infrastructural technologies that drive natural forces, bring the state together while also allowing it to govern over people and land. Infrastructures are actants that form state-citizen interactions. There are competing political ambitions, economic interests, expertise, technology, and materials underlying their construction and maintenance. Modifications in their composition and function over time affect citizens’ perceptions and their conduct toward the state. As opposed to the dualist ontology of social constructivism, which implies a contradiction between nature and culture, matter and meaning, origin and construction, this paper argues that state formation is an ongoing process in the continuity and entanglement of so-called dualities. |
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| ISSN: | 2618-6330 |