Paul Weissfellner

Prof. Fenn

September 14, 2016

 We Have Never Been Modern

In the first chapter of his book, We Have Never Been Modern, Bruno Latour paints a picture of a society at odds with itself. In his analysis, modernity consists of two parallel, completely separate processes; that of hybridization, and that of purification. According to Latour, it is the separation between the two that is the marker of a modern society. However, in many ways, it is impossible to keep the two separate. “[purification] has made [hybridization] possible; the more we forbid ourselves to conceive of hybrids, the more possible their interbreeding becomes.” (12)

 Latour’s work touches on one of the most intense debates of the modern era: “what does it mean to be modern?” (8) The rock on the south side of campus addresses this question. It is natural, in that it was created by natural forces, and as such is pure and untouched. At the same time, it resides within the bounds of a human structure, that of the college campus, blending between natural and human simply by being.  The two processes pointed out by Latour, that must be kept separate for modernity to exist, coexist peacefully in it, turning his notion of modernity on its head.