Voiceless people, unnamable networks and disposable groups: the limits of Actor-network theory

Abstract

In this paper a critical analysis of Bruno Latour and Michel Callon’s Actor-network theory is proposed. It is argued that studies about the social must incorporate emotions and imponderability. Focusing on the analysis of catastrophes and extreme events, a reflection on the political work that excludes from the social networks, as irretrievable and disposable, all those that do not create or do not carry value in the hegemonic perspective and, therefore, are not construed as having social and political rights is presented. These irretrievable and disposable persons and groups become invisible and absent in the conventional analyses proposed by Actor-network theory.