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McCracken--Dissertation2.pdf (20.26 MB)

ETD Abstract Container

Abstract Header

Mess Management in Microbial Ecology: Rhetorical Processes of Disciplinary Integration

McCracken, Christopher W
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1441216323

Abstract Details

2015, PHD, Kent State University, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of English.
As interdisciplinary work becomes more common in the sciences, research into the rhetorical processes mediating disciplinary integration becomes more vital. This dissertation, which takes as its subject the integration of microbiology and ecology, combines a postplural approach to rhetoric of science research with Victor Turner’s “social drama” analysis and a third-generation activity theory methodological framework to identify conceptual and practical conflicts in interdisciplinary work and describe how, through visual and verbal communication, scientists negotiate these conflicts. First, to understand the conflicting disciplinary principles that might impede integration, the author conducts a Turnerian analysis of a disciplinary conflict that took place in the 1960s and 70s, during which American ecologists and biologists debated whether they should participate in the International Biological Program (IBP). Participation in the IBP ultimately contributed to the emergence of ecology as a discipline distinct from biology, and Turnerian social drama analysis of the debate surrounding participation lays bare the conflicting principles separating biology and ecology. Second, to answer the question of how these conflicting principles are negotiated in practice, the author reports on a yearlong qualitative study of scientists working in a microbial ecology laboratory. Focusing specifically on two case studies from this fieldwork that illustrate the key concept of textually mediated disciplinary integration, the author's analysis demonstrates how scientific objects emerge in differently situated practices, and how these objects manage to cohere despite their multiplicity through textually mediated rhetorical processes of calibration and alignment.
Derek Van Ittersum (Advisor)
Pamela Takayoshi (Committee Member)
Sara Newman (Committee Member)
Matthew Crawford (Committee Member)
Ecology; Microbiology; Rhetoric; Science Education; Science History; Statistics

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • McCracken, C. W. (2015). Mess Management in Microbial Ecology: Rhetorical Processes of Disciplinary Integration [Doctoral dissertation, Kent State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1441216323

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • McCracken, Christopher. Mess Management in Microbial Ecology: Rhetorical Processes of Disciplinary Integration . 2015. Kent State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1441216323.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • McCracken, Christopher. "Mess Management in Microbial Ecology: Rhetorical Processes of Disciplinary Integration ." Doctoral dissertation, Kent State University, 2015. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1441216323

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

kent1441216323
323
© 2015, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by Kent State University and OhioLINK.