Subtopic Deep Dive
New Materialism and Ontological Turn
Research Guide
What is New Materialism and Ontological Turn?
New Materialism and Ontological Turn examines vibrant matter, flat ontologies, and nonhuman agencies through material-relational lenses in the Anthropocene.
This subtopic critiques dualistic ontologies in social theory by emphasizing material flows and compositionist approaches (Latour, 2010, 356 citations). Key works analyze environmental activism via sustainability movements (Schlosberg and Coles, 2015, 236 citations) and question new materialist claims (Tompkins, 2016, 147 citations). Over 1,000 papers cite foundational texts like Latour's manifesto.
Why It Matters
New Materialism reshapes ethics by highlighting nonhuman agencies in ecological crises, informing activism on material flows (Schlosberg and Coles, 2015). It challenges geopolitics through materialist turns, addressing migration and borders (Squire, 2014). Braidotti's posthuman critical theory applies these ontologies to Anthropocene governance (Braidotti, 2017). Fox and Alldred use monist sociology for power analysis in social structures (Fox and Alldred, 2017).
Key Research Challenges
Flat Ontology Limits
Flat ontologies risk erasing power hierarchies by equalizing human and nonhuman agencies (Tompkins, 2016). Critics argue this overlooks colonial legacies in material relations (Schulz, 2017). Over 147 citations highlight persistent dualism critiques.
Anthropocene Entanglements
Entanglement paradoxes complicate security in human-nonhuman scales (Hamilton, 2017). Materialist philosophy struggles with practical activism amid ecological threats (Schlosberg and Coles, 2015). 75 citations underscore scalability issues.
Decolonizing Ontologies
Political ecology demands decolonizing technology-ontology links (Schulz, 2017). Amerindian perspectivism challenges anthropocentric rights (Avelar, 2013). 98 citations reveal tensions between monist and indigenous views.
Essential Papers
An Attempt at Writing a Compositionist Manifesto
Bruno Latour · 2010 · SPIRE (Sciences Po) · 356 citations
I am not going to go through all the points that would be necessary to establish the credentials of the little word compositionism. I will simply outline three successive connotations I’d like to a...
The new environmentalism of everyday life: Sustainability, material flows and movements
David Schlosberg, Romand Coles · 2015 · Contemporary Political Theory · 236 citations
This article analyzes recent developments in environmental activism, in particular movements focused on reconfiguring material flows. The desire for sustainability has spawned an interest in changi...
On the Limits and Promise of New Materialist Philosophy
Kyla Wazana Tompkins · 2016 · Lateral · 147 citations
A response to the forum, “Emergent Critical Analytics for Alternative Humanities,” edited by Chris A. Eng and Amy K. King. Kyla Wazana Tompkins questions the structures informing claims of newness ...
Reshaping critical geopolitics? The materialist challenge
Vicki Squire · 2014 · Review of International Studies · 109 citations
Abstract How can the ‘materialist turn’ contribute to the reshaping of critical geopolitics? This article draws attention to the limits of an approach that emphasises the representational, cultural...
Decolonizing political ecology: ontology, technology and 'critical' enchantment
Karsten Schulz · 2017 · Journal of Political Ecology · 98 citations
Abstract Current debates about the Anthropocene have sparked renewed interest in the relationship between ecology, technology, and coloniality. How do humans relate to one another, to the living en...
Posthuman Critical Theory
Rosi Braidotti · 2017 · Journal of Posthuman Studies · 91 citations
ABSTRACT This article argues the case for posthuman critical theory within the context of the Anthropocene, as both the convergence of posthumanist and postanthropocentric discourses and their deve...
Social structures, power and resistance in monist sociology: (New) materialist insights
Nick J. Fox, Pam Alldred · 2017 · Journal of sociology · 83 citations
Though mainstream sociological theory has been founded within dualisms such as structure/agency, nature/culture, and mind/matter, a thread within sociology dating back to Spencer and Tarde favoured...
Reading Guide
Foundational Papers
Start with Latour (2010, 356 citations) for compositionism manifesto, then Squire (2014, 109 citations) for materialist geopolitics challenges.
Recent Advances
Study Braidotti (2017, 91 citations) on posthuman theory and Fox and Alldred (2017, 83 citations) on monist power structures.
Core Methods
Core techniques: material-relational analysis (Schlosberg and Coles, 2015), perspectivism (Avelar, 2013), and entanglement critique (Hamilton, 2017).
How PapersFlow Helps You Research New Materialism and Ontological Turn
Discover & Search
Research Agent uses citationGraph on Latour (2010) to map 356-cited compositionism networks, revealing clusters in Schlosberg and Coles (2015). exaSearch queries 'ontological turn Anthropocene activism' for 250M+ OpenAlex papers, while findSimilarPapers expands from Squire (2014) to geopolitics materialists.
Analyze & Verify
Analysis Agent applies readPaperContent to Braidotti (2017), then verifyResponse (CoVe) checks ontology claims against Fox and Alldred (2017). runPythonAnalysis computes citation trends via pandas on 10 key papers, with GRADE grading for evidence strength in monist sociology.
Synthesize & Write
Synthesis Agent detects gaps in flat ontology critiques between Tompkins (2016) and Schulz (2017), flagging contradictions. Writing Agent uses latexEditText for revisions, latexSyncCitations for 91 Braidotti refs, and latexCompile for Anthropocene ethics manuscripts; exportMermaid diagrams relational ontologies.
Use Cases
"Analyze citation networks of new materialism in Anthropocene ethics"
Research Agent → citationGraph (Latour 2010) → runPythonAnalysis (networkx visualization) → mermaid diagram of 356-citation clusters exported for researcher.
"Draft LaTeX section on ontological turn in posthuman activism"
Synthesis Agent → gap detection (Squire 2014 + Braidotti 2017) → Writing Agent → latexEditText + latexSyncCitations + latexCompile → formatted PDF section with diagrams.
"Find code repos for material flow simulations in activism papers"
Research Agent → searchPapers (Schlosberg 2015) → paperExtractUrls → Code Discovery → paperFindGithubRepo → githubRepoInspect → Python scripts for sustainability modeling.
Automated Workflows
Deep Research workflow scans 50+ papers from Latour (2010) citationGraph, producing structured reports on ontological politics. DeepScan applies 7-step CoVe to verify entanglement claims in Hamilton (2017). Theorizer generates monist theory from Fox and Alldred (2017) + Schulz (2017) for activism models.
Frequently Asked Questions
What defines New Materialism and Ontological Turn?
It centers vibrant matter and flat ontologies challenging human-centric views in the Anthropocene (Latour, 2010; Braidotti, 2017).
What are core methods?
Methods include compositionism (Latour, 2010), material flow analysis (Schlosberg and Coles, 2015), and monist sociology (Fox and Alldred, 2017).
What are key papers?
Latour (2010, 356 citations) on compositionism; Schlosberg and Coles (2015, 236 citations) on everyday environmentalism; Tompkins (2016, 147 citations) on limits.
What open problems exist?
Challenges include decolonizing ontologies (Schulz, 2017), entanglement paradoxes (Hamilton, 2017), and scaling flat ontologies to activism.
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Part of the Posthumanist Ethics and Activism Research Guide