Practice(s) and Practice‐Based Approaches

Practices refer to all manner of actions, enacted by human agents, which are embedded in and constitutive of social structures and power relations. Practices are directed toward active presence in a social world that both constrains and enables them. Practice‐based approaches trace the processes by which knowledge, signs, institutions, and power relations emerge, are sustained, and change over time through the actions of individuals and collectivities. Linguistic anthropological notions of practice share an orientation toward language and sign‐making as forms of social organization and differentiation. Practice‐based approaches view social constructs such as language, culture, community, and identity as politically driven forms of practice which are defined by heterogeneity and fluidity.