The specters of bodies and affects in the classroom: a rhizo‐ethological approach

Abstract

Drawing on the poststructuralist notions of the body and affect by Gilles Deleuze, the author will show that bodies and affects in the classroom may be redefined as intensities and energies that produce new affective and embodied connections. What he suggests is that reconceiving teaching and learning as a plane for the production of intense affects that connect bodies can perhaps problematize current educational discourses around ‘emotional intelligence’ and ‘emotion management.’ It is important that we acknowledge and work with teachers and students to explore why and under what circumstances teaching and taught bodies are sometimes rendered as visible and other times as specters, as if they do not exist. Despite some limitations, Deleuzian ideas can open up planes where improbable affective and bodily connections can be made. In such planes, affects such as desire, pleasure, joy and even anger can form platforms for social solidarity and the understanding of differences.

Notes

1. In this essay, I purposely use the term ‘affect’ instead of ‘emotion’ (except when the authors cited refer specifically to ‘emotion’), because I share the philosophical meaning of affect as outlined in Deleuze’s work; this meaning is thoroughly discussed throughout the essay.