Learning and Expanding with Activity Theory

This book is a collection about cultural-historical activity theory as it has been developed and applied by Yrjö Engeström. The work of Engeström is both rooted in the legacy of Vygotsky and Leont'ev and focuses on current research concerns that are related to learning and development in work practices. His publications cross various disciplines and develop intermediate theoretical tools to deal with empirical questions. In this volume, Engeström's work is used as a springboard to reflect on the question of the use, appropriation, and further development of the classic heritage within activity theory. The book is structured as a discussion among senior scholars, including Y. Engeström himself. The work of the authors pushes on classical activity theory to address pressing issues and critical contradictions in local practices and larger social systems.

1. Activity theory between historical engagement and future-making practice Annalisa Sannino, Harry Daniels and Kris Gutierrez; Part I. Units of Analysis: 2. Cultural-historical activity theory and organization studies Frank Blackler; 3. Uses of activity theory in written communication and research David R. Russell; 4. On the inclusion of emotions, identity, and ethico-moral dimensions of actions Wolff-Michael Roth; Part II. Mediation and Discourse: 5. Mediation as a means of changing collective activity Vladislav A. Lektorsky; 6. Digital technology and mediation: a challenge to activity theory Georg Rückriem; 7. Contextualizing social dilemmas in institutional practices: negotiating objects of activity in labour market organizations Åsa Mäkitalo and Roger Säljö; Part III. Expansive Learning and Development: 8. The concept of development in cultural-historical activity theory: vertical and horizontal Michael Cole and Natalia Gajdamashko; 9. Two theories of organizational knowledge and creation Jaakko Virkkunen; 10. Contradictions of high technology capitalism and the emergence of new forms of work Reijo Miettinen; 11. Spinozic re-considerations on the concept of activity: politico-affective process and discursive practice in the transitive learning Shuta Kagawa and Yuji Moro; Part IV. Subjectivity, Agency, and Community: 12. From the systemic to the relational: relational agency and activity theory Anne Edwards; 13. Expansive agency in multi-activity collaboration Katsuhiro Yamazumi; 14. The communicative construction of community: authority and organizing James R. Taylor; 15. Research leadership: productive research communities and the integration of research fellows Sten Ludvigsen and Turi Øwre Digernes; Part V. Interventions: 16. Who is acting in an activity system Ritva Engeström; 17. Past experiences and recent challenges in participatory design research Susanne Bødker; 18. Clinic of activity: the dialogue as instrument Yves Clot; 19. Epilogue: the future of activity theory Yrjö Engeström.

Activity theory has a very rich and solid heritage in the works of Vygotsky, Luria, and Leont'ev. The development of activity theory depends on the understanding of this heritage. This 2009 book provides researchers with an accessible text that also supports the use of the classic tradition of activity theory.

Annalisa Sannino is University Lecturer in the Department of Education at the University of Helsinki in Finland. She completed her PhD in psychology at the University of Nancy in France and worked as researcher in the Department of Education at the University of Salerno in Italy. Her research is focused on discourse, experiencing, and learning in interventions in educational institutions and work organizations. She has published research articles in refereed journals in English, French, and Italian.
Harry Daniels is Professor of Education, Culture, and Pedagogy and Director of the Centre for Sociocultural and Activity Theory Research at the University of Bath, UK. From 2002 to 2005 he has been Editor of the international journal Mind, Culture, and Activity. His research interests include sociocultural and activity theory, innovative learning in the workplace, special needs and social exclusion, and patient and career information seeking. In 2001, he published the book Vygotsky and Pedagogy, which has subsequently been translated into several languages.
Kris Gutiérrez is Professor of Social Research Methodology at the University of California, Los Angeles. Her current research interests include the study of the sociocultural contexts of literacy for language minority students. Her research also focuses on understanding the relationship between language, culture, development, and pedagogies of empowerment. In 2005, Gutiérrez received the Sylvia Scribner Award of the American Educational Research Association.