Becoming-Cyborg in Outdoor Spaces

As the world entered the COVID-19 pandemic, people moved into different spaces. During this time, a research project involving the construction of a conceptual persona, becoming-cyborg, made from a hybrid of theories of becoming drawn from Deleuze and Guattari and Haraway’s figure of a cyborg evolved alongside the virus by turning towards outdoor spaces due to the possibilities such spaces provide. A goal of this dissertation is to extend empirical research to contribute to the growing body of literature on posthuman theories. To accomplish this goal, ontologies of becoming and posthuman theories of subjectivity were used to create a moving methodology comprised of nature walks with groups of children and educators in public outdoor gardens in a mid-Atlantic metropolitan area. The dissertation draws from video footage taken by four wearable cameras along with theory and other data from the nature walks. Still and moving images along with words and sounds cut from videos were pieced together to create film montages. These scenes and soundscapes are conceived as thresholds of affects and sensations that attempt to disrupt notions of place and identity to create new possibilities for education research.

Author

• Bailey, Erin

Language

• English

Keyword

• outdoor spaces
• cyborg
• wearable cameras
• affect
• becoming

Date created

• 2024

Type of Work

• Dissertation

License

• All rights reserved

Rights statement

• In Copyright

GW Unit

• Curriculum & Instruction

Degree

• Ed.D.

Advisor

• Eakle, Jonathan A

Committee Member(s)

• Dernikos, Bessie P
• Varga, Bretton A

Persistent URL

•  https://scholarspace.library.gwu.edu/etd/mp48sd64h