The materiality of discourse: relational positioning in a fresh water controversy

ABSTRACT

This project adds to current theorising in organisational communication on the interconnection between discourse and materiality through the refinement of a relational ontology perspective. The central proposition of this project is that in a relational ontology perspective, associations are performed such that relationships and thereby ontologies are communicatively negotiated. To illustrate the arguments of the project, a fresh water management controversy is examined by using public hearing and field research data. The case study illustrates how the materiality of discourse functions to position freshwater, communities, and organisational texts in various and shifting ways to each other.

KEYWORDS:

• Organisational communication
• materiality
• discourse
• water management
• public hearing
• relational ontology

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. There are some exceptions such as Vásquez and Cooren’s (2013) work on space-time in the Chilean space programme and Cooren’s (2001) study of a Canadian river controversy.

2. Dryzek also noted that the environment as a concept did not exist until the 1960s.

3. See http://www.waukeshadiversion.org/ and http://dnr.wi.gov/topic/wateruse/waukeshadiversionapp.html.

4. There are many different social constructionist approaches, some of which are and some are not compatible with a recognition of how the materiality of the world participates in the social construction of the world (see Burr, 1998).

5. As a corpus linguistic analysis tool, AntConc is able to do frequency counts of specific words that occur with a given text or texts and to display these in the ‘context’ by showing the half dozen or so words that precede or follow as well as link back to the specific area of the text where specific terms occurred. AntConc is able to do additional forms of linguistic analysis, but for this project, its usage was limited to frequency and word context identification.

6. Currently, the water that the Waukesha Water Utility provides to its customers is safe (Waukesha Water Utility, 2014). However, there is still radium in the water and a key issue in the dispute involves the anticipation of and attempt to prevent a potential, future problem.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Theresa Castor

Theresa Castor (PhD, University of Washington) is Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Communication at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside, USA. Her research examines the communicative constitution of organisations and crises utilizing discourse analytic research methods. Her recent work has focused on water resource management, weather-related crises, and how agency, materiality and risk are constituted in interactions. Her work has been published in Management Communication Quarterly, Communication Yearbook, Discourse Studies, Electronic Journal of Communication, Journal of Business Communication, and the International Journal of Public Participation.