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Re: [xmca] Re: Knotworking (ex: Double stimulation?)

I most certainly appreciate this use of the concept of "project", Greg. This is one of the main lines of enquiry opened up by the concept of "project", as a foundational concept for *social theory*: the myriad ways in which different projects - form alliances, subsume one another, "colonise" other projects, enter into relations of mutual exchange or cooperation-while-remaining-independent (hiring each other or buying and selling each others' products), or collaborate normatively with one another, generate new, mutually meaningful objects or ideals, enter into mortal conflict or merge with one another, etc. In fact, as "project" is intended as a *unit* of human social life (as well as a fruitful concept for psychology), it is precisely this "algebra" of contcatination, or "knotworking" if you will, which is opened up by taking the project as a unit rather than a system concept. 

Andy

Greg Thompson wrote:

Antti,

I see that in the case described (of the librarians), the concept of
"knotworking" is a largely intentional (although not always controllable)
concept.

But I also see in Engestrom's earlier piece, When the Center Does Not Hold,
that knotworking is used as an etic concept, that is a concept used by him
and his colleagues to describe what people are doing. As such, it seems
like this kind of knot-working is somewhat less intentional or - maybe
better - less explicit. It is something that people are doing without
knowing it (to paraphrase Marx via Zizek).

Both usages of knotworking seem very productive and useful.

With regard to knotworking, I would like to suggest other, more traditional
forms of knotworking, such as kinship and gift-giving. The practices that
surround kinship and gift-giving are crucial for imbricating persons with
each others projects (to use Andy's concept in a way that he might or might
not appreciate...).

And, of course, despite our thoughts to the contrary, kinship and
gift-giving still play an important role in the here and now of hospitals
and libraries.

-greg


On Fri, Jun 14, 2013 at 2:44 PM, Antti Rajala <ajrajala@gmail.com> wrote:




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