Rethinking the Relationship Between Skill and Technology: Bringing Archery into Conversation with Cybernetics and Postphenomenology

Abstract

This thesis seeks to better understand human-technology relations in skilled practice by exploring how archers view their relationship with their bows. I draw on the post(-)phenomenological literatures of philosophy of technology (Ihde, 1993) and geography (Lea, 2020; 2009b) to understand archery as a more-than-human practice and, by bringing it into conversation with 1950s cybernetics, develop a language to discuss how communication occurs across more-than-human systems. This approach enables me to avoid privileging humans or anthropomorphising technology, traits I identify as common in contemporary debates surrounding so-called ‘prosthetic’ technologies which present technologies as being ‘incorporated’ into human bodies by becoming ‘transparent.’ I ground these discussions through my empirical data, primarily collected through a year-long ethnography conducted at Exeter University Archery Club, where I was able to observe and participate in the kinds of relationships formed through the intimate engagements archery requires. Subsequent interviews were used to expand on participants’ experiences of the sport to emphasise the thesis’ focus on the felt relationship. Through an exploration of affect and atmospheres, I argue that disruptions to practices can be interpreted as interference in more-than-human communication, I further suggest that controlled exposure to these circumstances can be beneficial for skill development. Through this emphasis on communication, I propose an alternative approach to the incorporation-centred methods in the literature. My ‘companionship’ approach draws on contemporary materialist literature (e.g., Barratt, 2010) to seek to identify parity between all actors in human-technology relations while also recognising the significant differences in how agency is expressed. The companionship approach that I identify locates skill in the communication between actors of the more-than-human system, and present new opportunities to understand skilled performance and design, which I demonstrate through a practical piece in which I revisit and re-design pieces of my archery equipment.