New Ghosts in Old Town: The Intertemporal Translation of Edinburgh's South Bridge

Diego Coraiola, Liv Egholm

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    Abstract

    Our paper theorizes the process of intertemporal translation with implications for the management scholarship on temporality and materiality. We develop a historical case study of the South Bridge in Edinburgh that shows how the meanings and uses of objects, i.e. its affordances, change over time as groups of people situated in different temporal contexts enact the objects in novel ways. We describe the sedimentation process through which uses and meanings associated with the bridge are converted into an inventory of affordances that influences new interactions with the bridge. In addition, we show how changes in the temporal context and the materiality of the bridge stimulated the emergence of new bundles of practice associated with the development of new affordances. We describe how actors engage in processes of figuration, imagining new possible uses and meanings for the bridge as the present unfolding of action conflicted with descriptions of the past and expectations about the future. We then show how the interplay of figuration and sedimentation creates new affordances and new bundles of practices that may expand or contract the perceived affordances of an object.
    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publicationProceedings of the Eighty-second Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management
    EditorsSonja Taneja
    Number of pages1
    Place of PublicationBriarcliff Manor, NY
    PublisherAcademy of Management
    Publication date2022
    Pages3926
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2022
    EventThe Academy of Management Annual Meeting 2022: Creating a Better World Together - Seattle, United States
    Duration: 5 Aug 20229 Aug 2022
    Conference number: 82
    https://2022.aom.org/

    Conference

    ConferenceThe Academy of Management Annual Meeting 2022
    Number82
    Country/TerritoryUnited States
    CitySeattle
    Period05/08/202209/08/2022
    Internet address
    SeriesAcademy of Management Proceedings
    ISSN0065-0668

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