This paper argues that using NLP to quantify cultural phenomena is a material-discursive practice where the apparatus actively constitutes the reality it measures rather than passively recording it.
- The study draws on Karen Barad's concept of the agential cut to show how design choices draw boundaries entangled with internalized cultural material.
- Case studies analyze television and film dialogue regarding structure, interaction, and deviation.
- Additional examinations focus on erasure of cultural markers, attunement to historical material, and agency in an agentic workflow.
The authors propose a research program that is theory-driven, empirically rigorous, and culturally contingent, treating each agential cut as a conscious methodological and ethical commitment.