Experimenting with creativity, immigration, language, power, and technology: a research agencement

Abstract

Purpose This paper is the actualization of a researcher’s attempt to engage, both conceptually and methodologically, with the dynamic and ever-creative connections and forces associated with the schooling experiences of immigrant students. The research reported that in this paper comprises part of a three-year research project funded by Canada’s Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and focuses on the interrelationships between immigration, technology and pop culture in a Canadian French-language secondary school. The paper aims to discuss this issue. Design/methodology/approach Drawing from new materialist thought, the experience of one immigrant student is put to work with(in) the Deleuzo–Guattarian concepts of agencement, machines, language and power (pouvoir, puissance) with(in) the rhizoanalysis of a short video clip provided by the student. Findings With(in) the rhizoanalysis, the publication machine emerges as a force that could potentially affect the expression of one’s becoming citizen, and hacking emerges as a force that could contribute to the destabilization of the publication machine’s power (pouvoir). Originality/value The originality of this paper is that readers are also invited to contribute to this experimentation in contact with the real.