Broadcast Yourself. Deleuze and Guattari - The Concept of the Rhizome. Archive: Deleuze / [ P o l y A n g y l e n e ] Media Theory and Criticism 2012. Unity through . . . Rhizome? « Schizophrenic Summer ~ July 17, 2008 by rebelrhetoric So I’m impressed with our wonderfully diverse crew of Deleuzians: undergraduate to PhD, with disciplines ranging from Geography to Film, Rhetoric to Comparative Studies.
We began with the introductions to What is Philosophy? And A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia. Next up: “What is a Concept?” The natural attitude. Rhizome (philosophy) "As a model for culture, the rhizome resists the organizational structure of the root-tree system which charts causality along chronological lines and looks for the original source of 'things' and looks towards the pinnacle or conclusion of those 'things.' A rhizome, on the other hand, is characterized by 'ceaselessly established connections between semiotic chains, organizations of power, and circumstances relative to the arts, sciences, and social struggles.' Rather than narrativize history and culture, the rhizome presents history and culture as a map or wide array of attractions and influences with no specific origin or genesis, for a 'rhizome has no beginning or end; it is always in the middle, between things, interbeing, intermezzo.' The planar movement of the rhizome resists chronology and organization, instead favoring a nomadic system of growth and propagation.
Deleuze, Gilles and Félix Guattari. 1980.