AUTUMN SEMINAR

Thursday October 20th

Diana Masny, University of Ottawa, Canada

Time: 4.00pm - 6.30pm
Location: Behrens 0.1, Didsbury Campus

'Rhizoanalysis: A transdisciplinary approach to literacies research'

Abstract:
There are in the work of Deleuze, Deleuze and Guattari several instances that demonstrate the importance of transdisciplinarity. What is Philosophy? illustrates the significance of the interrelationship of philosophy , science and art. Thousand Plateaus elaborates on the concept of the smooth and the striated and proceeds to consider a certain number of models in science and art (physical, mathematic, musical), in order to study the different aspects of smooth and striated and the relations between them. In order to consider the importance of creative transdisciplinary connections in literacies research, it is the aim of this presentation to connect the fields of humanities, science and social sciences, specifically, math, art, and language arts in an empirical study on how multilingual children conceptualize writing systems in math, language and art through a lens of Multiple Literacies Theory (MLT) which itself is influenced by concepts from Deleuze, and Deleuze and Guattari. Literacies are conceptualized as processes in becoming other while reading, reading the world and self. Children were observed during math, art and language arts classes and interviewed afterwards. Rhizoanalysis was the lens that explored the relationship of reading, reading the world and self and children’s conceptualization of writing systems in these classes. The analysis calls upon MLT and concepts of becoming, affects and percepts, virtual and actual, and differences in becoming other in order to understand children’s conceptualization of writing systems across disciplines. In addition, given that this study took place in classrooms, significant consideration is given to smooth and striated spaces. Rhizoanalysis deterritorializes conventional methodology under the guise of transgressive data and transcendental empiricism. The analysis of data is seriously challenged by rhizoanalysis’s characteristics to preclude interpretations and conclusion. What then are the implications for the role of Deleuzean nomadic methodology?

If you wish to meet Professor Masny during her visit to ESRI please contact Dr. Cathie Pearce