Deploying the Line to Study the Sticky Surfaces of College Student Identity Development Theory

• In Event: AERA Virtual Poster Session 6
  In Poster Session: Exploring Dynamic Uses of Arts-Based Inquiry

Abstract

This paper invests with Elizabeth de Freitas’s (2014) topo-philosophical argument about line as “the engine of theory” (p. 285). There are two observed surfaces across which this investment with line moves. First is the sticky and striated surface of college student identity development theory. Second is the more wiggly, sometimes smoother space of arts-engaged methodology. More than metaphorically, lines were a type of research-creation (Springgay &Truman, 2016), operating as method and as a conceptual lens for speculation. The work joins recent moves by student development scholars interested in expanding analyses of the discursive constitution of collegian subjectivity (Abes, Jones & Stewart, 2019; Smithers & Eaton, 2017). The work also advocates and illustrates the transformative potential of participatory arts-engaged inquiry.

Authors

• Kelly Clark/Keefe, The University of Vermont

• Kelly Mancini Becker, University of Vermont

• Erika White