Paper short abstract:

The paper experiments with Actor-Network-Theory to turn language into an actant in an attempt to re-entangle language with the world. Empirically I analyze and compare safety protocols and scripts with their implementation in actual medical practice in the current Ebola epidemic.

Paper long abstract:

As caregivers, medical staff is highly exposed to infection with Ebola. The unprecedented dimension of the current West African outbreak has intensified attention to the safety and survival of medical staff, amongst others through scripts and protocols and their strict implementation. For example, the Swiss air-ambulance Rega has developed a mobile Ebola-transport system that is operated by three staff: two doctors and one supervisor who reads from a script the moves in order to control the medical security of the doctors.

Starting from a praxeological perspective I compare scripts with film material from the field and analyse which activities are understood to be in need of control, and which ones are not. As it is neither practical nor possible to script every activity, their inherent underspecification necessarily leads to situations which are managed through other, pre-existing resources by the actors.

These medical practices are underpinned by linguistic ideologies that assume the controllability of action through language. I interpret them as a variation of the "word - world distinction" in which language and action are conceptualized as independent but causally connected entities. Because they appear as entities they can be seen in a Latourian sense as actors/actants which enter particular and situated assemblages to form securitized medical practices. Under this perspective, these micro-practices can be connected to larger concerns around the securitization of global health. More importantly, I am interested in experimenting with Actor-Network-Theory in an attempt to re-entangle language with "the world" by challenging black-boxed and seemingly commonsensical assumptions about language.