Unravelling the Text Book as Embodied Curriculum: An Actor-Network Theory View of an Android-based eBook Implementation in a South African Secondary School

This paper uses ANT to trace the network-effects of two artefacts, an Android Tablet and an eBook as they are released into a newly formed e-learning actor-network (MobiLearn) inside a South African secondary school. Attention is given to the network effects on the identity and role of both tokens and how they in turn influence other actors inside the network. Of special interest is the effect that both tokens have on the understanding of the "book as a container" and the "knowledge is an object" metaphors as they dismantle and destabilize the notion of a text book as embodied, authorised curriculum despite the fact that this intention is never verbalised by any of the actors inside the network. Author