In this thesis I argue that technical communication as an academic curricular entity has struggled to define itself as either a humanities or scientific discipline. I argue that this crisis of identity is due to a larger, institutional flaw first identified by the science studies scholar Bruno Latour as the problem of the "modern constitution." Latour's argument, often referred to as Actor-Network Theory (ANT), suggests that the epistemological arguments about scientific certainty are built on a contradiction. In viewing the problem of technical communication's disciplinarity through the lens of ANT, I argue that technical communication can never be productive if it seeks to locate itself within any of the institutional camps of the modern university. Rather, I contend that technical communication is a strong example of a nonmodern discipline, and that its identity crisis can be utilized to take one step towards rewriting the institutional debate over scientific certainty.
Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:USF/oai:scholarcommons.usf.edu:etd-5847 |
Date | 01 January 2013 |
Creators | Carabelli, Jason Robert |
Publisher | Scholar Commons |
Source Sets | University of South Flordia |
Detected Language | English |
Type | text |
Format | application/pdf |
Source | Graduate Theses and Dissertations |
Rights | default |
Page generated in 0.0022 seconds