Bicycle Network is Australia’s biggest bike riding organization that has nearly 50, 000 members nationwide. One of the things I really appreciate about Bicycle Network is that they often undertake surveys in order to see how members and local riders feel about certain key issues. Previously this blog has shared Bicycle Network’s survey on how people feel about Australian helmet laws as well as the results of that survey and some of the flow on critiques and counterarguments the survey results stimulated. Their latest survey gauging how bike riders how they use end of trip facilities at work and if that might change because of COVID-19.
This post is an invitation for Aussie riders to contribute their ideas to help Bicycle Network create a set of guidelines for workplaces so end of trip facilities remain open and people can ride their bike to work- if you are interested – read on!
Image: Bicycle Network
Does your workplace have somewhere to store your bike and wash up after your commute? Do you wish it did? Let us know what you do when you get to work and how that might change when lockdown eases.
End of trip facilities—areas with bike parking, showers, change rooms and lockers—are a vital part of workplaces that enable people to ride a bike instead of driving or taking the train.
And it is likely end of trip facilities will become more important. New bike lanes are being installed in Australian cities and public transport is running at reduced capacity, encouraging more people ride to work.
However, end of trip facilities will need to run a little differently to before COVID-19.
Some facilities might need caps on the number of people who can use the facility at the same time and cleaning will need to be done more regularly.
Bicycle Network is producing a guide with advice for workplaces on how to manage their end of trip facilities so people can keep riding to work.
To help us make the guide we’d like people to complete a survey, tell us how their end of trip facility works and if it will affect the way they travel to work after COVID-19.
Image: Bicycle Network
Survey, images and content in this post courtesy of Bicycle Network.
This post is a great story of how a renovated double-decker bus is getting more Londoners on bicycles. This story comes courtesy of Inhabitat where it first appeared as a story on Architecture and was published under the title: The Bicycle Library Invites Londoners to “Borrow” Bikes Inside a Converted Double Decker Bus. What I find really exciting about this project is the array of thoughtful and useful services the London Bike Library offers. Read more about these services and more in the accompanying interview by Yuka Yoneda who interviews Karta Healy, the man who made it all happen. Such an inspirational story! Enjoy! NG.
London’s Bicycle Library
Most of us are no strangers to libraries where you can borrow books but what about libraries where you can borrow bikes? Well, that’s exactly what The Bicycle Library is (yeah, they didn’t get too creative with the name). Not only does this London-based business promote green transportation, it’s also situated in a converted double-decker bus.
Talk about giving re”cycling” a whole new meaning!
Inside the adapted bus, there is a “library“/gallery on the top floor with a showroom on the first level.
Londoners who need expert advice on which bike they should rent or buy can speak to an in-house “librarian” specializing in all things two-wheeled.
There’s even an array of actual books pertaining to – what else? – bicycles, on hand for reference. The first floor also boasts a shop with clothing and biking accessories.
Just as you would in a regular library, you can browse thorough different bikes, take them out and even test them out on the track outside.
There are seven types of bicycles to choose from: folding, MiniVelo, FGSS (Fix Gear Single Speed), Ladies Coaster, Mens Coaster, cargo and electric, so you’re sure to find one that’s right for you.
And if you find, after renting it for a while, that you’ve met your perfect bike match, the Bike Library even has a borrow to buy program so that you can make it your own.
Karta Healy Interview
Last week, we showcased the Bicycle Library, which is pretty much exactly what it sounds like, and it was so unusual that we had to get in touch with its founder and pick his brain. We needed to know what makes a person wake up one morning and want to start a library where people take out bikes instead of books – and in a revamped double-decker bus, no less?! So we caught up with Karta Healy, the driving (or should we say cycling?) force behind this mobile resource, and found out the answers to those questions and more – read on to see what he said..
How did the Bicycle Library get its start?
Karta: It all started last September, when I did a cycle fashion show extravaganza during London Fashion Week. We rented two buses to showcase all my TWOnFRO designs and my friends’ brands such as Rapha, swrve, Cyclechic, Dashing Tweed, 4TN and Brooks.
The buses were a key part of our layout of a London city street within the hallowed halls of Smithfield Market. I set up a test Bicycle Library for our guests and everyone loved it as much as me. That got me thinking…
People love the fact that the Bicycle Library makes its home inside a converted double decker bus – can you tell us about where it came from and why you decided to revamp an old vehicle instead of opening up a more traditional storefront?
Karta: I fell in love with the size and space inside these buses – they carry a certain nostalgia for all of us. From there I searched for our bus -a Leyland Olympian. I found it after 3 months in Milton Keynes. Maggie she is called, because all of her identifying marks start with M, and also because we have a great poster of Margaret Thatcher on a bicycle!
Can you tell us a little about your in-house “librarians” and your borrow to buy program?
Karta: Librarians are there to assist you with any questions, which are answered via their expertise, as well as the books and magazines in the reference library, which is a complete selection of all the best books on bicycle design, culture and history.
There is also a set of iPads to browse all of our bookmarked cycling websites, which are organized according to the 7 sub categories of bikes we advocate for the city.
The Borrow to Buy program is a rent-to-own system with an emphasis on trying many types of bikes in a week, or every week. The total days of bike borrowing is subtracted from the price of the final decision – hopefully a bike for life!
What is your most popular bike right now? What is your own personal favorite bike to ride?
Karta: Our most popular bike category is the electric bike by far, and we have some very special models that really give a snap of the neck with a twist of the wrist. Also, the cargo bikes are very popular, especially the Bernds model with its super-sized wicker basket. My personal favorite is my bamboo bike I built for myself – it flexes enough to soak up the shite London streets’ surfaces, and is unique enough not to be stolen… yet.
What do you think is the biggest obstacle keeping people from riding bikes and how do you think we can change that?
Karta: Each city has a different set of challenges, and London, my city, is a battlefield. Cars are keeping cyclists from multiplying, and the HGV’s are subtracting us even. Best we ban smoking tailpipes in cities, just as we have rid bars of their cigarette fumes already. There are many reasons, safety being the obvious one, due to said motorists.
Another one is image – whether tribal, lycra, or hipster, none say: “I have a real job”. The stigma of sweaty dishevelled students with a hangover on creaking bicycles, although we were all happy with that at one time, has to be outgrown. The sense of aspiration and achievement are typically forsaken for the bicycle in image only. Nowadays there are so many premium, stylish options, even e-bikes that keep you from sweating.
The other obstacle is bike theft, which must be supervised by NATO or somebody with the balls to tackle it. Studies show that when someone has their expensive shiny bike stolen, they will go out and buy one half the price, when that gets stolen, they will find the cheapest possible bike which they will hardly use, and if that gets stolen, they are back on the underground, or even worse, behind the wheel of a car. Cities need to introduce valet parking for bicycles, supervised parking areas, and even automated underground systems like the ones in place across Japan.
We couldn’t agree more! Karta makes it sound easy but we’re sure it was tough work setting up this impressive roving cycle library so congratulations to him and his crew.
Kind of makes you want to set up your own Bicycle Library in your own city, doesn’t it?
I’ve had a few people contact me asking how the trip went. Below is a snapshot of my bicycle PhD project, the context and what I did during my PhD fieldwork in Lunsar, Sierra Leone.
The amazing FNM SIG group: discussing readings and my bike fieldwork
My NM SIG discussion notes
Some of the realia I bought in from my fieldwork
Here’s some highlights of my fieldwork presentation (more details in slides below).
Opening: An Acknowledgement of Country, Diversity and Inclusion and that Matter Matters and thanks to the local Lunsar chiefs and the amazing people who have been instrumental in helping make this project happen.
Researcher positionality: Who am I and how did I come to this project
Research context background : 5 intersections of Girls unfreedoms
Girls Ed Lit Review: Current directions in NGO Literature on the topic
Establish Space: Key Project that opens up my research space – completed in 2010
Confirm & Extend: Follow up – a specific project on girls bicycle projects in Lunsar – completed 2016
Established gap leads into my research questions (no slide for this = top secret!)
My Study Design: Aims, Methodology and theoretical framing (NM)
Fieldwork details: Tech Matters and other research developments/considerations
Country context: Background to Sierra Leone (very general history & context)
Site Location: Background and context about Lunsar (my fieldwork location)
Research partnership case study: Intro to Village Bicycle Project (organization) Stylish (host/research participant/all-round incredible man!)
Fieldwork ‘Data’: list of all the research data/activities achieved (so busy!) and other events, opportunities and visits – so busy!
Present some ‘Data‘: I showed some fieldwork bike ride footage for discussion (no slide – top secret)
The return: Now I have returned, I outlined my next steps and questioned how/what to do to start ‘data analysis’
Q&A: Open discussion and suggestions on entry points for data analysis using NM approaches.
Aside from being able to share my fieldwork experiences with others, it was also great to get stuck into some rigorous academic discussions and come away with a number of productive and tangible ideas to apply for data analysis.
Most satisfying of all though, was seeing how interested people are in Sierra Leone and having the opportunity to promote and celebrate the beautiful people, places and experiences I had there.
Researcher positionality: Who am I and how did I come to this projectResearch context background : 5 intersections of Girls unfreedomsGirls Ed Lit Review: Current directions in NGO Literature on the topicEstablish Space: The Child Mobility Project – Key project that opens my research space. Completed 2010Confirm & Extend: Lauren’s Hof follow up: a specific project on girls bicycle projects in Lunsar. Completed 2016My Study Design: MethodologyFieldwork details: Tech MattersFieldwork details: Other research developments/considerationsCountry context: Background to Sierra Leone (very general history & context)Site Location: Background and context about Lunsar (my fieldwork location)Research partnership case study: Intro to Village Bicycle Project (organization) and Stylish (host/research participant/all-round incredible person!)Fieldwork ‘Data’: list of all the research data/activities achieved (so busy!) and other events, opportunities and visits – so busy!The return: Now I have returned, I outlined my next steps and questioned how/what to do to start ‘data analysis. Q&A: Open discussion and suggestions on entry points for data analysis using NM approaches
While looking at some pacific community bike projects, I came across the Pedal4PNG Bike Ride.
It sparked my interest as it was relatively small and specific and offered a unique riding opportunity through Papua New Guinea. It also provides some ideas for other organisations (like Village Bicycle Project in Lunsar, Sierra Leone who I have just returned home from) might consider as a way to increase exposure, contacts and fundraising.
Pedal4PNG Bike Ride
The Pedal4PNG Bike Ride was a 6-day event held in 2018 and run by Australian Doctors International (ADI) to raise funds for PNG‘s Healthy Mums and Healthy Babies programs.
ADI provide support in PNG which is only five km north of Queensland. But unlike Aussie kids, 6% of Papuan children won’t live to reach the age of five. ADI explain this in simple terms: for every soccer team of kids, that’s one not making it as far as kindy age.
Children die in PNG every day from preventable diseases such as diarrhoea, measles and pneumonia. Meanwhile, their mothers face a mortality rate of 250 mums per 100,000 live births, with under 50% of births medically supervised.
Proceeds of the ADI Pedal4PNGBike Ridewent to supporting the critical work Australian Doctors International carries out in PNG to provide better health outcomes for young children and mums.
This is locally sustainable health care in action – prevention and treatment in the isolated communities where over 85% of the PNG population lives.
ADI teams provide a mix of skills and staff to deliver hands-on health care and save lives.
ADI doctors deliver clinical capacity building for front line PNG health workers to improve health service delivery in the areas of child and maternal health, malaria, TB and lifestyle diseases.
The Bike Trip
This bike trip was from Namatanai (in the north) down to Kavieng (in the South) covering a total of 260kms on roads throughout the New Ireland Province.
The trip was advertised as a ‘bike adventure’ and given the tropical heat (30C +) and physical challenge of riding through some varied terrain including some hills and it was best the riders knew about the conditions. But the riding was mostly on sealed roads, so the actual surface was not that difficult. There were a couple of longer days (up to 100 km), so doing some training was advised.
As with any international in-country charity bike ride, built into the itinerary was time for cultural events, meeting locals, time to explore local surrounds, have R&R and opportunities to surf, relax and visit some handi/craftsmiths.
This ride had a few other perks I hadn’t seen before, particular to only PNG of course, which was the option to go and watch chocolate making at Rubios as well as do some local scuba diving and fishing and explore the WWII sites and history along the island.
What I appreciated is that the trip number was capped at ten which is a good number for an adventure ride – enough to have some diversity in personalities, but not too much that the group is so large that it takes hours to get ready or do anything.
Trip Details
Sunday 13 May: arrive in Kavieng, welcome dinner and overnight at Nusa Island Retreat
Monday 14 May: transit to Namatanai, with visits to several different health clinics, afternoon visit to hospitals, unpacking of bikes and overnight at Namatanai Lodge
Thursday 17 May: 100km ride into Kavieng, visit giant eels, final dinner Nusa Island Retreat
Friday 18 May: depart (although we recommend staying the weekend for some diving!)
Along the way, riders stopped to visit healthcare clinics and hospitals that were supported by ADI, so they got to see first-hand some of the health issues and programs that were underway to meet the needs of locals.
Overall is looks like a great adventure ride to do. What appeals to me most is the small group number and how riders can go and visit clinics to better appreciate local health issues. ADI noted in their Annual Report 2018 that the ride had been a success.
It might take a lot of work to organise and I know these rides are not for everyone, but it is good to some diversity in charity bike ride offerings beyond the (dare I say ‘stale’) mass rides for cancer research events.
Hello, bike nuts! Thanks for dropping in. As you have noticed, it has been incredibly hectic since my return from Sierra Leone. Not only has it been a profound shift returning from my PhD fieldwork and all the emotions, work, people and activity that entailed, but COVID-19 has taken complete hold of the world to which I returned. Just like everyone else, for the last month, all my time and energy has been consumed with transferring to remote work. For me, that means all managing and adapting all my teaching, learning and classes to virtual spaces – as well as supporting my international and domestic students (116 in all) do the same. The COVID-shift, as I have come to call this phase, has taken precedence over updating this blog. Rest assured, I will be updating as I get the chance, but it might not be as regular as we are used to – but I will continue uploading content – after all, it seems more critical now more than ever to celebrate life and keep positive (on and off the bike!). NG.
Social Science Research in COVID-19
It’s a crazy time to be a (social) scientist – and an even crazier time for fieldwork.
In addition to my own direct experience of recently travelling and researching overseas, I have returned to a world that has significantly changed since I left.
COVID-19 was a threat as I left for my fieldwork in Africa – and it was a reality when I returned.
Everyone has had to make sacrifices, changes and adjustments for family, work and research.
These adjustments take weeks if not months and there is no avoiding it – but as Victor Frankl reminds us, we do have control over how we chose to face challenges.
I have been heartened to see some academic proactively moving to meet the challenge of researching during COVID-19.
For those researchers who need a little lift and motivation – this post is for you.
Here are 3 ways social scientists are productively responding to COVID-19.
Deborah Lupton This Sociological Life has posted some resources for social researchers working in a COVID society saying ‘I’ve put together a few open-access resources concerning what an initial agenda for COVID-related social research could be and research methods for conducting fieldwork in the COVID world’. Her post includes the links below:
This is an open-source global spreadsheet that collates COVID-19 research projects. This impressive repository includes large and small projects from some of the leading universities in the world and showcases the range and significance of COVID-19 impact. All hail GitHub! The organisers state: ‘Social scientists have an important role during a pandemic. We can do this much better through cooperation. This international list tracks new research about COVID 19, including published findings, pre-prints, projects underway, and projects at least at proposal stage.’ What a gift.
COVID-19 and my PhD research
Once my transition to full remote working and teaching has ‘settled down’ (whatever the hell that means?!), I’ll be making space to sit down and reflect.
I’ll be taking stock and considering how and where I’ll incorporate this unique encounter into my academic work, my dissertation and beyond.
Sometimes after a busy week like the one I’ve just had, all I want is a quick happy bike story fix.
This week, I revisited Luis, the local Colombian farmer who effortlessly overtook a group of ‘pro’ road cyclists up a hill while they were attempting a world record.
It a simple
story that many cyclists love.
Here’s what
happened: Two road cyclists, Axel Carion
(French) and Andres Fabricius (Swedish) were trying to break the current world record
(58 days) to ride the whole length of South America (7,450 miles in total).
While in Antioquia (Colombia), they were struggling up a particularly steep hill, when local farmer Luis rode up behind them and then continued to sail past them on his old clunker wearing only a shirt and denim jeans.
The pro cyclists in full lycra and on high-end bikes couldn’t believe their eyes!
He gives them a friendly nod as he overtakes them and just keeps going about his business – GOLD!
Apparently,
Luis rides 62 miles every day around his hilly surrounds – which explains why
he is so fit and could so effortlessly overtake them.
Image: The Daily Mail – CEN/Biking Man
I know it is a clique, but I still love the idea of a local on a clapped-out bike creaming professional cyclists all decked out in lycra on high-end bikes. It just makes me happy.
It totally speaks to my it-doesn’t-matter-who-you-are-just-get-on-a-bike-and-ride approach to biking.
It’s also a good reminder for all riders not to take themselves too seriously.
Going overseas for a bike tour is a great way to get around, see local sites and keep fit and active.
Increasingly, cyclists are either taking their bikes away with them or are signing up for a localised one or multi-day biking adventure such as ‘bike and cook‘ trips or ‘winery bike tours‘.
If you are planning to book a bike tour overseas, a key consideration should be to check whether the bike tour is officially registered as an Eco-tourism provider.
There is a massive social, economic and environmetal impact difference between bike tours that are Eco-tourist registered, and those who are not.
For Storyteller, Eco-tourism is about uniting conservation, communities, and sustainable travel. This means that those who implement and participate in ecotourism activities should adhere to ecotourism principles.
Ecotourism Principles
• Minimise impact. • Build environmental and cultural awareness and respect. • Provide positive experiences for both visitors and hosts. • Provide direct financial benefits for conservation. • Provide financial benefits and empowerment for local people. • Raise sensitivity to host countries’ political, environmental, and social climate.
Image: Storytellers Eco-Bike Tours Cook Island
Cook Islands: Storytellers Eco-bike Tours
Storytellers stand by the principles of Ecotourism. They are the only Cook Islands Eco Tour on mountain bikes.
Storytellers give 10% of profits back to the community for development projects.
Their local storytellers (staff) are passionate and knowledgeable about the local culture, history and environment and love sharing stories of their heritage with guests.
So next time you look at a bike tour overseas, check to see if they are registered as a Eco-tourism operator – this will boost your enjoyment of the tour and help support local communities.
For this Father’s Day – my recommendation has
an extra layer of bikey, grassroots, humanity, community, sustainability,
travel and creative inspiration folded into it.
My hot tip is to get the documentary film One Man’s Tour.
This is a charity documentary about New Zealand’s inaugural Tour Aotearoa. This brevete event was first run in 2016. A brevet is not a race. It is a ride following a set course, via 30 photo checkpoints, which you must complete between 10 and 30 days – no more and no less. It traverses across incredible scenery and landscapes – and you can well imagine the trials, tribulations and magic moments that occur.
The film follows the 260 brave riders who took on this first epic self-supported 3000km mountain bike ride across New Zealand, which goes from goes from Cape Reinga to Bluff.
The movie is inspiring and shows a range of
challenges the riders face. It also shows the inevitable ups and downs that
come with taking on endurance non-assisted bike rides – and this event is no
different. The scenery is breathtaking and makes you want to grab your bike and
book a flight.
Aside from being a great film to watch, you decide on how much to pay for this movie!
All funds raised by One Man’s Tour go to World Bicycle Relief (WBR). WBR gives bicycles to communities in
Sub-Saharan Africa to help locals better access school, healthcare and
stimulate employment opportunities.
In return for the documentary, you decide how
much money to give. When you pay on the link below, you will automatically
receive an email with a link to stream/download the movie.
The film has already raised $1,279 – with the aim to reach $3,000.
This is a great gift to give – for your dad, a
friend, or for yourself.
What’s not to like about supporting family, people, bikes, community and positive living?!
My abstract for the upcoming Pedagogies in the Wild Conference has been accepted!
This is great news because I already have an abstract accepted for the international 2019 New Materialist Reconfigurations of Higher Education Conference(Dec 2-4th 2019) and this conference follows straight after (4-6th December) and is at the same place – the University of the Western Cape (Cape Town, South Africa).
I am working towards a research trifecta: 2 conferences and fieldwork in the one trip.
This conference is being affectionately referred to ‘the D & G conference’.
That is because it focuses on integrating the work of two highly influential scholars whose work is transdisciplinary and has had ‘epic consequence’ in many fields – Deleuze and Guattari. Gilles Deleuze is a philosopher and Felix Guattari is a psychoanalyst. Some their most influential works are: Anti-Oedipus, What Is Philosophy? and A Thousand Plateaus. They have written extensively together on an array of topics. In particular for my project, their work has been foundational in extending New Materialists understandings.
The Pedagogies in the Wild Conference 2019 is being run for the third time and is solely focused on unpacking, exploring and apply Deleuze-Guattarian thinking and approaches.
As many regular readers of this blog know, my research is complexified by interrogating various aspects of power relations – such as gender in/justice, post-colonialism, and what/who are academic/research/educational ‘experts’.
The session I will be presenting is based on a publication I currently writing with my amazingly brave PhD Supervisor Dr Sherilyn Lennon.
Title: Cycling-with-through-and-on the edge of the PhD supervisor-candidate relationship: A post-humanist bike ride to a different place.
Abstract: Traditionally, the PhD supervision relationship is predicated on a supervisor as expert – supervisee as learner/novice model of knowledge transmission. Most of the supervisory work is performed either on the university campus or via digital channels that allow the ‘expert’ to direct the conversation and establish the performance expectations for both candidate and supervisor. But what might be possible if the formalities and associated materialities of this power structure were to be disrupted and reframed?
This session presents insights that emerged when a PhD candidate and her Supervisor shared a bayside bicycle ride in Brisbane, Australia, to see what would happen. While the candidate was an expert
bike rider, her Supervisor was far less experienced and somewhat anxious about
her (st)ability. The bicycle ride was viewed as a
way of deliberately disrupting and displacing traditional notions around
academic performances, spaces of learning and who gets to navigate.
What emerged was surprising,
revealing and uncomfortable.
The bicycle ride enabled
encounters with/in the world/self that worked to queer the way in which both
Supervisor and candidate understood their relationship. We contend that the
candidate/supervisor relationship is an iterative and dynamic entanglement of
forces wherein subjectivities, bodily performances, past experiences, fears,
technologies, planned and unplanned encounters are forever and always
entangled.
Influenced by Baradian philosophy,
this session focuses on the material-discursive-affective phenomena that
emerged as the experience of riding-with the candidate/supervisor. In this way “systems of entrapment that manifest power relations in the academy” and “instigate codes of conduct and…exclusionary practices that can limit how academic knowledges…are produced” (Charteris et al., 2019, p. 2) are able to be troubled, re-thought and re-balanced.
My PhD Supervisor Dr Sherilyn Lennon and I on our bike ride. Sat. 22nd June, 2019.
What is Pedagogies in the Wild Conference 2019?
Here is more about the conference: The recent #Rhodesmustfall and #feesmustfall protests have set South African higher education on a new course towards transformation, focusing on equitable access to higher education, Africanisation and decolonisation.
Similar movements have reverberated across the globe,
addressing issues of neoliberalism, for example in Canada, the UK, the
Netherlands and Chile; racism, as in Ghana and the US; and curfews on women
students in India.
This has raised important questions regarding knowledge
production; continuing structural racism, patriarchy, homophobia and
transphobia; the use and value of western theorists in research and curricula;
and who gains epistemological and physical access to higher education.
On the other hand, we have seen many productive junctures
between pedagogy, education studies and the philosophy of Deleuze and Guattari.
In particular, there has been a focus on cartography, schizoanalysis, corporeal
theorising, rhizomatic learning and nomadic thought in socially just
pedagogical praxis.
These junctures and innovative genealogies and
methodologies can both address these issues and be further improved and made
more precise by engagements with what it means to transform and reconfigure
pedagogies and practices in higher education.
Image: Pedagogies in the Wild 2019
My Conference Stream – Topic 2. Spaces, Spatiality and Unschooling
Topic 2. Spaces, Spatiality and Unschooling: Places of/and/un/Learning in Higher Education
How can we challenge assumptions
such as ‘knowledge belongs to experts’ in favour of
materialist/experimental/experiential collaborations in teaching and learning?
Expanded Conference Topic 2
Higher education spaces are usually considered in relation
to how they optimise student learning and, increasingly, how they optimise
marketing potential to attract new students.
In addition, meanings of ‘space’, ‘place’, ‘environment’ and
‘context’ are often elided, and it is taken for granted that learning happens
in classrooms, seminar rooms and lecture halls.
Such discourses take space for granted as a neutral background
on which human endeavour is located.
Unschooling (in a meta sense rather than the narrow sense of
homeschooling) resists this kind of pedagogy in favour of building real
communities and replacing dry, nationalist agendas with different kinds of training
programs, learning opportunities and methodologies, apprenticeships,
internships and mentorships.
Unschooling thus represents a material politics aimed at
genuine social freedom and enjoyable learning. Normative ways of understanding
space and schooling are challenged by Deleuze-Guattarian understandings which,
instead, conceptualise space as an entangled ‘constellation of human–nonhuman
agencies, forces and events’ (Taylor, 2013: 688) within which objects, bodies
and things do surprising and important if often unnoticed and mundane work as
material agents and actants.
Theoretically, such work draws on and takes forward the rich
traditions of feminist and postmodernist understandings of space developed by
Doreen Massey, Henri Lefebvre, and Deleuze and Guattari’s philosophy of space and
striation.
This theme therefore wishes to open up debates about higher
education spaces by considering questions such as:
What is the role of architecture, design and infrastructure in higher education?
How might the materialities of higher education spaces and places be conceptualised via inter-, multi- and post-disciplinary frameworks?
How can we take account of the importance of places of informal learning?
How does the iterative materialisation of space-time-matter come to matter in higher education spaces?
How is higher education being spatially reconfigured in relation to global flows of bodies?
Which/ whose bodies matter in higher education spaces?
What new spatial imaginaries are needed for higher education to thrive?
How can feminist new materialisms in its overlaps and divergences with Deleuze-Guattarian philosophy aid us to produce new understandings of space-place-matter entanglements in higher education?
How can we challenge assumptions such as ‘knowledge belongs to experts’ in favour of materialist/experimental/experiential collaborations in teaching and learning?
What kinds of material and affective potential does unschooling offer us for thinking about curriculum development in Higher Education.
I got an email yesterday saying that my abstract submission for the 10th Annual New Materialisms Conference of Reconfiguring Higher Education has been accepted!
Woohoo!
This conference will be held at University of the Western Cape (Cape Town, South Africa) from 2-4 December 2019.
This is great news!
I have been working furiously on my Ethics Submission. Ethics continues to be an epic mission because of the international fieldwork aspect where I will be bike riding with locals (the Ethics board want Risk Assessments, Ethics for me, the project and the locals). This means an added level of evaluation, justification and paperwork, more so than if I just had local Brisbane participants. But I am up for the challenge!
So for this event, aside from the opportunity to participate in an international theory/practice conference, I am also engineering this trip to work in with my fieldwork.
I am very excited! There are a few big NM names also presenting, including:
Conference Streams
There are 6 conference streams this year. They are:
New materialities, decolonialities, indigenous knowledges
Slow scholarship
Arts-based pedagogies/research in HE
Neurotypicality, the undercommons and HE
New materialist reconfigurings of methodology in HE
Political ethics of care, the politics of affect, and socially just pedagogies
Image: Macro Morocco
My Abstract
Title: An athlete-teacher-researcher mountain bike race (re)turned: entangled becoming-riding-with
In this paper, I share how engaging with new materialist approaches have enabled me to think deeply and disruptively about my unfolding athlete-teacher-researcher performativities and methodology. Using as a starting point a ‘moment of rupture’ (Lennon, 2017) during a popular female-only mountain bike race, I problematize how representation, subjectivity and embodiment matters in my research with respect to my own athlete-teacher-researcher-becoming entanglements. In doing this, I draw on Wanda Pillow’s (2003) concept of ‘reflexivities of discomfort’ and Karen Barad’s (2014) diffractive ‘cut together-apart’ to reframe critical becoming-riding-with moments in alternative ways. In doing so, I delve into some messy and destabilizing ways of becoming-to-know and knowing as I continue to experiment with foregrounding the agential force of bicycles within my research unfolding.
Image: Pxhere
Conference Info.
Taken from the official conference website: Annual New Materialisms Conferences have been organised since 2009 by an international group of scholars who received the EU’s H2020 funding from 2014–18.
The conferences are meant to develop, discuss and communicate new materialisms’ conceptual and methodological innovations, and to stimulate discussion among new materialist scholars and students about themes and phenomena that are dear to the hosting local research community as well as interdisciplinary new materialist scholarship.
After having visited many cities across Europe, as well as Melbourne (Australia), the conference will come to Cape Town (South Africa) in 2019 in order to discuss the dynamic higher education landscape that we find ourselves in today. The recent #Rhodesmustfall and #feesmustfall protests have, in particular, set South African higher education on a new course towards transformation, focusing on equitable access to higher education, Africanisation and decolonisation.
This has raised important questions regarding knowledge production beyond the South African context, particularly in relation to the use and value of western theorists in local research and curricula, as well as who gains epistemological and physical access to higher education.
On the other hand, we have seen many productive junctures between pedagogy and the new materialisms, including the use of Deleuze and Guattari in education studies. In particular, there has been a focus on cartography, schizoanalysis, corporeal theorising, rhizomatic learning and nomadic thought in socially just pedagogical praxis.
These junctures and innovative genealogies and methodologies can both address as well as be further improved and made more precise by engagements with transformation toward accessible, Africanised and decolonised curricula, and research agendas and practices.
It seems fitting, then, that the 3rd South African Deleuze and Guattari Studies Conferencewill be held directly after the 10th Annual New Materialisms Conference as we grapple, together, towards new ways of being and seeing in relation to higher education.
