Becoming With Education-Based Social Movements Through Diffractive Analysis

• In Event: Fairmont Roundtable Session Eighteen
  In Roundtable Session: Autohistories, Becoming, and Reflexive Discomfort in Education Research (Table 4)

Abstract

In this paper, I provide an overview of diffraction theory, followed by deeper explanations of diffraction as an analytic methodology and how tools like the agential cut can be used to redraw what’s inside and outside the boundaries of a research study. I follow this with vignettes from my work on education-based social movements in Buenos Aires, Argentina that demonstrates how applying the agential cut at the body, particularly the body in trauma, has opened a viewpoint for understanding my connection with activists and activism across time, space, and material conditions. I conclude with insights on how diffraction as an analytic methodology can serve social movements and education researchers in conceptualizing their becoming with one another.

Author

• Lee O'Donnell, Texas State University
  Presenting Author