Working Creatively with Stories and Learning Experiences by Michael Crowhurst & Michael Emslie

Author:Michael Crowhurst & Michael Emslie
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Springer International Publishing, Cham

Analysis

How could we use an idea like assemblage to work with this narrative ? First, we could explore some of the entangled components of the complex assemblage that is Muhammad’s story about being a queerly identifying student. His narrative is composed of a variety of discourses, including those relating to safety, support, ethnicity, sexuality, gender , tertiary education, curriculum and other students. These we might describe as some of the ‘content’ components of the complex assemblage that is his narrative . A tendency when exploring narratives is to focus on the identification of such elements, but here, in line with notions of assemblage, we seek to work in additional ways.

Another of the components of his story is feelings. Some of the feelings he discusses include, for example, feeling safe and unsafe, feeling supported and unsupported, feeling powerful and powerless. Feelings around and associated with self-acceptance and acceptance from others are also present, as well as feelings around being observed and not being observed. Feelings are an important component of the complex assemblage that is Muhammed’s narrative .

Not only are his feelings entangled with the various gaynesses he performs in different spaces, but they also function to mask or to bring things to attention and, on occasion, provoke an evaluative edge. Feelings often precede decision-making. Feelings matter and are an integral component of the assemblage.

Another component of the assemblage is to do with various beliefs, for example, beliefs around norms to do with sexuality , ethnicity, clothes and accessories. Beliefs around what an education should be about, and what a university should be about. Beliefs around rights and safety. Beliefs around respectful and civil behaviour. Beliefs around freedoms and the limits of freedom. Beliefs around institutions and responsibilities. Muhammed’s beliefs are linked to his feelings and this is an important aspect of the complex assemblage that is his narrative . It is important to note this because beliefs and associated feelings connect to behaviours, which when collectively enacted over time produce and reproduce culture (Sisely, 2008). There is a complex and dynamic relationship between the assemblages of belief, behaviour and cultural context .

Another component of his story is his experiences with other people in the various spaces that comprise the complex assemblage that is the tertiary institution he attends. These people include other students he knows and other students he does not know. Students in the café, students in the library, students in the change rooms in the gym. These people also include lecturers and tutors, other students from the Queer Lounge, CALD students, students from different buildings and those from the Queer Department. Just as there are many spaces and many people that Muhammed engages with as he moves through the various territories that make up the complex assemblage that is the university , so too he performs a vast array of gaynesses as he comes into contact with these people and these spaces (Deleuze & Guattari, 1987) .

Another component of the complex assemblage that is Muhammed’s narrative is the variety of ways of constructing gayness that he articulates.

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