8/10/2019 Review of Hybrid Thoughts in a Hybrid World

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book reviews 417

yet it contains enough gems to stir up the appetite of any scholar interested in the cultural history

of our planet.

Veronica della Dora

University of Bristol, UK

Bruno Latour: Hybrid Thoughts in a Hybrid World. By A. Blok and T.E. Jensen. London: Routledge. 2011.

208 pp. 28.00, paperback. ISBN: 9780415642989.

This book offers an ambitious, yet relatively concise, account of the work of Bruno Latour. It is

explicitly notan introduction to actor-network theory and as a result moves beyond common cari-

catures of Latour, teasing out the key characteristics of his intellectual project. As such, it offers a

salient reminder of the remarkable scope and ambition of his work. While in no way an idiots

guide, the book provides a comprehensive tour of Latours writings, tracing the development of his

ideas from early fieldwork in West Africa to his recent The Making of Law. The inclusion of a briefglossary will be helpful to those less familiar with his work, and a closing brief interview with

Latour provides some useful insights into his approach to writing.

The introductory chapter gives an overview of Latours academic trajectory, the key influences

on his writing and the phases his work has moved through. These phases form the structure of the

rest of the book. As such, the first substantive chapter deals with Latour as anthropologist of sci-

ence, summarizing his early work in Laboratory Life and Science in Action. Further chapters

move through the phases of philosophy of modernity, political ecology and sociology of asso-

ciations. The authors are at pains to point out that this is not a simple chronological progression

though they also acknowledge that this is largely the outcome but rather a preliminary attempt at

dividing his existing work thematically.This thematic structure is largely successful; indeed, the clarity with which each theme is

explained, combined with the deep understanding of his arguments, is one of the strongest features

of this text. A further particularly useful contribution is the discussion of Latours intellectual lin-

eage, whether in his coincidental mentoring in anthropology by Marc Aug or through the more

formal influences of Deleuze, Whitehead, Dewey and Serres. It is in this sense that the authors

come closest to offering a reading of Bruno Latour, the actor-network (p. 3).

Such an aim was perhaps over-ambitious. The laudable desire to focus specifically on Latour, rather

than actor-network theory, has the unfortunate effect of near-silencing the influence of his intellectual

collaborators and, as such, the authors miss an opportunity to deliver a truly relational study of their sub-

ject. Further, the volume is more celebratory than critical, with acknowledgement of any critical receptionlargely being confined to the concluding pages of each chapter. But there is also little sense of the impact

Latour has had across academic disciplines; while there is occasional allusion to Latours operations on

the sidelines of the social sciences (e.g. p. 129), there is no equivalent reference to the considerable influ-

ence he has had on sub-disciplines such as cultural geography. A greater focus on the associations inher-

ent in, and stemming from, his work would have led to a much more rounded volume.

These criticisms should not distract, however, from what is a very well-written guide to the

complexities of Latours arguments. The book makes a strong case for the re-evaluation of his

contribution beyond the confines of science studies, and for acknowledging him as one of the most

truly radical and innovative writers living today.

Christopher Bear

Cardiff University, UK