Arrhythmanalysis and Revolutionary Rupture of Détournement: Lefebvre and the Pedagogical Rhythms of Post-Fordism

The pandemic as gender arrhythmia: Women’s bodies, counter rhythms and critique of everyday life

“…Indeed, through his spatial theory, Lefebvre never loses sight of how everyday rhythms are produced “by the structuring rhythms of the state and capital” (Horton, 2005, p. 159). In particular, he makes a clear distinction between linear and cyclical repetitions as the “rhythmic manifestations of the struggle between exchange‐value and use‐value”, respectively (Ford, 2022, p. 1). To advance understandings of the spatial and rhythmic operations of power, scholars have combined Lefebvre's concepts of rhythmanalysis with his earlier work on the social production of social space to go beyond descriptions of “social” and “natural” rhythms, and to critically examine how operations of power (i.e., capitalism, patriarchy, racism, disablism) work to produce particular rhythms while limiting others.…”

“…For Lefebvre (2004), it is important to study our everyday work‐life rhythms because they are shaped by particular time and space expectations of capitalist daily routines. The purpose of rhythmanalysis is thus “to interpret how space and time are socially produced” and “to unveil how they become a source of alienation” (Alhadeff‐Jones, 2016, p. 181), with the ultimate aim of then “reclaim(ing) differential or cyclical repetitions” (Ford, 2022, p. 5). While Lefebvre often conceptualized arrhythmia as a sickness in need of a cure, Wozniak's (2017) critical engagement with Lefebvre's work highlights the political potential in arrhythmic disruptions, which can “create lacunae or holes in hegemonic temporalities… by suspending processes of exchange‐value production” (p. 504).…”

Listening to the Post-script: Intersections Between Improvisation and Indeterminacy in Music and Education

“…If there is value in interrupting the logic tied to a conception of teaching associated with student’s growth (and thereby challenging dominant notions of time in education), then could indeterminate compositions (educational designs) that often result in more non-linear forms be one way to achieve this? How might a deeper look at the role of improvisation and indeterminacy help us to move away from linear conceptions of time to more cyclic conceptions of time (Biesta 2017 ; Ford 2022 )? Biesta ( 2017 ) questions whether a conception of time in education concerned with development over time can ‘fully capture education’s interest in freedom’ and proposes a non-temporal educational logic to combat this (86).…”

“…In educational design we often think about what to include, giving less attention to what to leave out. In adapting the durational and rhythmic elements of Stern’s ( 1988 ) model for education, we can begin to think about designs that range from highly linear forms through to ‘arrythmia’ (Ford 2022 ). I would argue that educational forms that have higher degrees of indeterminacy may also provide opportunities for teachers to practice the elements of interruption, suspension and sustenance proposed by Biesta ( 2017 ), thereby helping students to stay in the ‘middle ground’.…”

“…It could be that we want to create openings to bring students into the process of creating new knowledge and original work. Or it may be because we want to challenge the linear conceptions of time that dominate our classrooms and find ways to deliberately rupture and hold spaces open, for example by introducing arrhythmia (Ford 2022 ), or through the process of negation, which ‘keeps open the gap between the world and signification, between meaning and sense’ and ‘operates by keeping sense indeterminate to meaning and signification’ (Ford 2019 : 110). Or we might see openings as opportunities for the invisible to become visible (Biesta 2017 ).…”