Assemblages of Self Across Time: Adam at Ages 6 and 12

• In Event: Literacy as a Body Without Organs: Democratic Assemblages, Multiplicities, and Intensities of Multimodal Practices

Abstract

This paper explores assemblages (Deleuze & Guattari, 1987) of self for Adam, at ages six and twelve. Assemblages have been described as wholes comprised of elements, parts, or pieces that invite a range of effects and can be productive, aesthetic, and/or destructive.

Drawing on the work of Deleuze and Guattari (1987), assemblages invite exploration of how dimensions of self come together. Body without organs invites discussion of what is virtual and experienced through references to desires that infect lines of flight and thus inform becoming. For Adam, shifting assemblages of impulses, expectations, encounters, and sensations, reveal self at two points in time and captures the fluidity and multiplicity that accompanies becoming. This “tentative and hesitant unfolding” (Law, 2004, p. 41) reminds us that assemblages are eternally temporary and molten. Self is conceptualized as a jumbling that produces multiple effects challenging tightly organized conceptions of identity.

Adam is one of nine case study children from immigrant families followed for the past seven years. Adam emigrated from Morocco and entered the study at age 6. Each annual phase of this longitudinal case study entailed collecting parallel data sets to examine how Adam responded to similar requests over time. Data was analyzed using a priori codes augmented through grounded coding. Longitudinal patterns were identified as patterns across research phases were compared and contrasted to reveal insights into how students presented themselves over time.

I assembled observations, spoken data, and artifacts that reflected Adam’s conceptions of self. I explore the same assemblage of data for Adam at ages six and twelve consisting of self-portraits, descriptions of online practices, transnational literacy practices, and discussions of favorite texts, and based on Adam’s self-portraits at ages 6 and 12.

At age 6, Adam discussed his picture saying “I was looking in the sky and dreaming that I was… in Morocco that... I loved my grandma that died and right now she is with Allah and, I made a big smile on Eid [Day of Celebration] and, that’s all.” Adam identified with his native country, his family and his religion. At age 12, while Adam’s picture provided few details, his accompanying text provided insight. Adam highlighted sports, video games, and friends.

He located himself in America. While he continued to reference his home country and the Qur’an, his identity is marked by the athletic logo on his shirt and accompanying I-statements. This data presents only a sampling of a larger assemblage and hints of lines of flight.

By exploring Adam’s assemblages of self at two points in time, important understandings are revealed. First, unique assemblages and becomings are evident in each phase (Deleuze & Guattari, 1987). While connected by lines of flight, changes are unpredictable and idiosyncratic. Second, methodological analyses that seek coherent understandings of the world are called into question.

References
Deleuze, G. & Guattari, F. (1987). A thousand plateaus: Capitalism and schizophrenia. Minneapolis: University of Minneapolis Press.
Law, J. (2004). After methods: Mess in social science research. London: Routledge.

Author

• Catherine F. Compton-Lilly, University of Wisconsin - Madison