This book examines the tensions between two theoretical perspectives in the context of non-corporeal actant theory: actor-network theory and critical sensemaking theory. It applies non-corporeal actant theory to various contexts, addressing the impact of actor-networks actor-network theory in the context of indigenous heritage; the failed attempt of Wolfgang Langewiesche in the history writing project at Pan American Airways; the presentation of history in budget making; the analogy of management research as a dance; non-corporeal connections in the context of a seal hunt, using the story-act approach to clarify connections to non-corporeal actants; the use of actor-network theory and the concept of a non-corporeal actant as alternatives for understanding the processes of institutionalization and translation, using the example of meritocracy, its development within American business education, and it spread to Indian business education; the role of social media in the changing of corporate values, focusing on #MeToo and Time's Up; controversy as a non-corporeal actant in the community of management historians; the role of the social in extreme moments of existential awareness; the concept of the non-corporeal actant from the perspective of philosophy; how history uses actor-network theory as a method, how ideas from the theory relate to historiography, and how history could be non-corporeal and an actor in the manner of actor-network theory; and controversies in non-corporeal actant theory.

Christopher M. Hartt is an Associate Professor of Management in Dalhousie University's Faculty of Agriculture. He developed Non-Corporeal Actant Theory in 2010 while undergoing PhD research on decision-making. He recently completed a SSHRC-funded project on Indigenous Entrepreneurship, and is currently in the midst of funded research into Greenhouse Gases and the Dairy Industry, as well as Community Pharmacy Dispensing Errors.

1. Introduction; Christopher M. Hartt