Rhizome (philosophy)

Rhizome is a philosophical concept developed by Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari in their "Capitalism and Schizophrenia" (1972-1980) project. It is what Deleuze calls an "image of thought," based on the botanical rhizome, that apprehends multiplicities.

Rhizome as a mode of knowledge

Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari used the term "rhizome" to describe theory and research that allows for multiple, non-hierarchical entry and exit points in data representation and interpretation. In "A Thousand Plateaus", they opposed it to an arborescent conception of knowledge, which worked with dualist categories and binary choices. A rhizome works with horizontal and trans-species connections, while an arborescent model works with vertical and linear connections. Their use of the "orchid and the wasp" was taken from the biological concept of mutualism, in which two different species interact together to form a multiplicity (i.e. a unity that is multiple in itself). Horizontal gene transfer would also be a good illustration.

Rhizome theory is also gaining currency in the educational field, as a means of framing knowledge creation and validation in the online era. In ' [http://innovateonline.info/index.php?view=issue&id=26 Innovate - Journal of Online Education, Vol. 4, Issue 5] ', Dave Cormier criticizes the limitations of the expert-centered pedagogical planning and publishing cycle and posits instead a rhizomatic model of learning. In this rhizomatic model, knowledge is negotiated, and the learning experience is a social as well as a personal knowledge creation process with mutable goals and constantly negotiated premises. The rhizome metaphor, which represents a critical leap in coping with the loss of a canon against which to compare, judge, and value knowledge, may be particularly apt as a model for disciplines on the bleeding edge where the canon is fluid and knowledge is a moving target.

See also

* Mutualism
* Plane of immanence

References

ources

* Cormier, D. 2008. "Rhizomatic Education: Community as Curriculum." "Innovate" 4 (5). http://www.innovateonline.info/index.php?view=article&id=550 (accessed August 5th, 2008).
* Deleuze, Gilles and Félix Guattari. 1980. "A Thousand Plateaus". Trans. Brian Massumi. London and New York: Continuum, 2004. Vol. 2 of "Capitalism and Schizophrenia". 2 vols. 1972-1980. Trans. of "Mille Plateaux". Paris: Les Editions de Minuit. ISBN 0826476945.
* Guattari, Félix. 1995. "Chaosophy". Ed. Sylvère Lotringer. Semiotext(e) Foreign Agents Ser. New York: Semiotext(e). ISBN 1570270198.
* ---. 1996. "Soft Subversions". Ed. Sylvère Lotringer. Trans. David L. Sweet and Chet Wiener. Semiotext(e) Foreign Agents Ser. New York: Semiotext(e). ISBN 1570270309.

External links

* [http://capitalismandschizophrenia.org/index.php/Rhizome Rhizome] Entry in the capitalismandschizophrenia.org wiki.
* [http://post.thing.net/node/2047 Rhizomatic Rauschenberg] a reflection on art,death and the rhizome by the artist Joseph Nechvatal
* " [http://innovateonline.info/?view=article&id=550 Rhizomatic Education: Community as Curriculum] " - Article in the June/July 2008 issue of Innovate - Journal of Online Education.