Research Seminar "From Practice theory to Feminist New Materialisms: Exploring the work of and with prof. Silvia Gherardi"

Silvia Gherardi is a Professor (Emerita) of sociology in work and organization in the Department of Sociology, University of Trento, Italy, and a founding member of the Research Unit on Communication, Organizational Learning and Aesthetics. Professor Gherardi has published widely in the fields of learning in organizations, practice-based organization studies and gender studies. Her current research interests focus on feminist new materialism, feminist posthumanism, affective ethnography, epistemology of practice theory, entrepreneurship, and postqualitative methodologies in organization studies. Her recent publications include How to Conduct Practice-Based Studies: Problems and Methods (Elgar, 2019, 2026), in collaboration with Michela Cozza, The Posthumanist Epistemology of Practice Theory (Palgrave, 2024), and in collaboration with de Vaujany, and Silva Organization Studies and Posthumanism: Towards a More-than-Human World. (Routledge, 2024).

Practical information

Institut Langage & Communication - UCLouvain

Batiment Parc 4th or 5th floor (to be confirmed)

Place de l’Université 16, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium

In order to organize the different sessions, could you please fill in the following subscription form before the 3rd of april?

Seminar Registrar Form – Remplir le formulaire

Friday 10/4 2PM to 4PM : introduction and presentation of participant's scientific work

Participants are invited to present briefly their work in dialogue with Silvia’s work on practice theory, assemblage or feminist materialism. 

4:30 to 6 PM Welcoming drink

Monday 13/4 2PM to 5PM : Practice-based theory and agencement: problems and methods

Rooted in the work of Deleuze and Guattari (1987), agencement thinking highlights the interconnected, heterogeneous, and emergent nature of phenomena. Since then, numerous scholars have examined agencement and the concept’s potential for theorizing phenomena. Such a perspective invites us to move beyond static understandings and instead attend to shifts, flows, and processes of transformation. Following the dynamics of agencements means examining how phenomena come together, how they manage to hold, how they become something else, and eventually how they unravel. 

This workshop aims to further reflect on the way we can operationalize this invitation from an empirical and methodological point of view.

Tuesday 14/4 from 10AM to 1PM : Posthumanism and feminist new materialism

As part of LASCO's yearly thematic, we will pursue our reflection on sociomateriality and tackle the posthumanist and feminist turn in the scientific debate around the concept of sociomateriality. We will discuss how posthumanism and feminism new materialism can help address several critics related to sociomateriality such as overemphasis on technologies and artefacts neglecting corporeity, the lack of integration of power and domination, etc.

All participants, we will also receive a number of readings in preparation of the different seminars.

This seminar is organized with the support of UCLouvain’s Sector of Human and Social Sciences.

List of readings

Cozza, M. & Gherardi, S. (2023). Chapter 4: Posthuman Feminism and Feminist New Materialism: Towards an Ethico-onto-Epistemology in Research Practices. In: Handbook of feminist research methodologies in management and organization studies (pp. 55-71). Edward Elgar Publishing.

Gherardi, S. (2016). To start practice theorizing anew : The contribution of the concepts of agencement and formativeness. Organization, 23(5), 680‑698. https://doi.org/10.1177/1350508415605174

Gherardi, S. (2022). A posthumanist epistemology of practice. In: Handbook of philosophy of management (p. 99‑120). Springer.

Gherardi, S. (2023). The fluid affective space of organizational practices. Qualitative Research in Organizations and Management: An International Journal, 18(5), 1‑19. doi:10.1108/QROM-07-2022-2368.

Gherardi, S. (2026). Chapter 10: Theorizing a posthumanist practice approach. In: How to conduct a practice-based study (3rd edition). Edward Elgar Publishing.