A brief overview of the concept of Assemblage as used in A Thousand Plateaus and applied by Manual De Landa in Sociology and Elizabeth deFreitas in Mathematics Education

1. Let’s look at DG’s
Assemblage concept
P I E R R E S U T H E R L A N D ( P S U T H @ U G A . E D U )
D E L E U Z E & G U A T T A R I I N A F R I C A
J U L Y 1 6 T H , 2 0 1 5

2. Outline
• River example
• Definitional work
• Uses in A Thousand Plateaus
• Current: DeLanda & Sociology
• Current: de Freitas & Math Education
River Definitions In ATP DeLanda
Sociology
de Freitas
Math Education

3. River example
River Definitions In ATP DeLanda
Sociology
de Freitas
Math Education

4. River example
River Definitions In ATP DeLanda
Sociology
de Freitas
Math Education

5. Definitional work
A collection of heterogeneous elements somehow
functioning together
◦Machinic assemblages/agencements machiniques (stuff)
◦Collective assemblages of enunciation (capabilities)
River Definitions In ATP DeLanda
Sociology
de Freitas
Math Education

6. Definitional work
Assemblage and assembling
Change in connections = Changes in nature
River Definitions In ATP DeLanda
Sociology
de Freitas
Math Education
X 2

7. Assemblage in A Thousand Plateaus
The male Wren
Tools and weapons
River Definitions In ATP DeLanda
Sociology
de Freitas
Math Education

8. Assemblage in A Thousand Plateaus
Limit = Begin again
Threshold = Change!
River Definitions In ATP DeLanda
Sociology
de Freitas
Math Education

9. Manuel DeLanda – Sociology
“Ontological project” (ADHD example)
◦(Just add strata!)
Getting unstuck:
◦Assemblage against totalities
◦Assemblage against essences
River Definitions In ATP DeLanda
Sociology
de Freitas
Math Education

10. de Freitas – Math Education
Ontological project: “Inclusive materialism”
E.g. “Intra-action”
Getting unstuck:
◦Assemblage against mind-body
◦ Child-cube-concept (Hwang & Roth)
◦Assemblage against process-product
◦ Movement-diagram (Chatelet)
River Definitions In ATP DeLanda
Sociology
de Freitas
Math Education

11. Closing
River Definitions In ATP DeLanda
Sociology
de Freitas
Math Education
◦ Box of tools
◦ On method: Possible ‘conceptual practices’
◦ Getting unstuck (deconstructive but non-prescriptive)
Thank you!
psuth@uga.edu

12. References
Barad, K. (2007). Meeting the Universe Halfway: Quantum Physics and the Entanglement of Matter and Meaning. Duke University Press.
Barad, K. (2010). Quantum entanglements and hauntological relations of inheritance: Dis/continuities, space time enfoldings, and justice-to-come.
Bennett, J. (2009). Vibrant matter: A political ecology of things. Duke University Press.
Bogue, R. (1989). Deleuze and Guattari (Vol. 20). Psychology Press.
De Freitas, E., & Sinclair, N. (2014). Mathematics and the Body: Material Entanglements in the Classroom. Cambridge University Press.
Delanda, M. (2000). Deleuze, diagrams, and the genesis of form. Amerikastudien/American Studies, 33–41.
DeLanda, M. (2006). A new philosophy of society: Assemblage theory and social complexity. Bloomsbury Publishing.
DeLanda, M., Protevi, J., & Thanem, T. (2013). Deleuzian Interrogations: A Conversation with Manuel DeLanda and John Protevi. Tamara Journal for Critical
Organization Inquiry, 3(4).
Deleuze, G., & Guattari, P. F. (1987). A thousand plateaus: Capitalism and schizophrenia (Vol. 2). U of Minnesota Press.
Dosse, F. (2011). Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari: Intersecting Lives. Columbia University Press.
Hwang, S., & Roth, W.-M. (2011). Scientific & mathematical bodies: the interface of culture and mind (Vol. 22). Springer.
Manuel DeLanda. Assemblage Theory, Society, and Deleuze. 2011. (2012). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-I5e7ixw78
Zourabichvili, F. (2012). Deleuze, a Philosophy of the Event: Together with the Vocabulary of Deleuze. Edinburgh University Press.

13. Molar/Molecular/LOF
River Definitions In ATP DeLanda
Sociology
de Freitas
Math Education