VIDEO: Developing Rhythmic Intelligence: Towards a Critical Understanding of Educational Temporalities

This lecture was the first one to be presented on January 16, 2023, in the "Spaces, Times, & the Rhythms of Adult Education" Research Symposium Series, organized by the TRC Lab (Sunkhronos Institute) from January to June 2023.

In this lecture, titled "Developing Rhythmic Intelligence: Towards a Critical Understanding of Educational Temporalities", Dr. Michel Alhadeff-Jones discusses the genealogy of his current research on rhythmic intelligence (RI) and rhythmanalysis (RA), and the research agenda associated with it.

The presentation is organized around three points. The first one presents the stages of development of his research in RI. The second one proposes a working definition of the notion of RI. The third point introduces five axes of research that may be developed in relation to the study of RI and RA.

This lecture was recorded during a live webinar hosted by the Sunkhronos Institute, with an international audience. The discussion and Q&A that followed are not featured in this video.

The main paper introduced in this presentation can be downloaded at: https://revistas.rcaap.pt/sisyphus/article/view/26894

All the lectures presented in the "Spaces, Times, & the Rhythms of Adult Education" Research Symposium Series are available on the Sunkhronos Institute YouTube channel.

Crisis and complexity: Contributions to the development of a rhythmic intelligence

Elisabeth Adler Kaufmann, Chaos, circa 1970 (Print and water color) (Photography: M. Alhadeff-Jones)

Toward a crisology?

In 1976, André Béjin and Edgar Morin coordinated a special issue of the journal Communications entitled « La notion de crise ». The contributions to this volume offer both a very precise overview of the way in which this term is mobilized in different academic disciplines (philosophy, history, sociology, economics, etc.) and at the same time a broad and in-depth understanding of what is implied by the use of the notion of « crisis » in a transdisciplinary perspective. In this respect, the concluding article, written by Morin (1976) and entitled «Pour une crisologie? » opens up a particularly rich perspective, supported by the sociological, historical and epistemological understanding that characterizes the author's thinking and his contribution to the paradigm of complexity. Frequently cited in subsequent texts on the psychological, organizational and socio-historical aspects of crises (e.g., Barus-Michel, Giust-Desprairies & Ridel, 1996; Roux-Dufort, 2000), this article appears today as an essential text for anyone interested in the notion of crisis in the human sciences.

Based on Morin's contribution, the aim of this article is to identify how a complex approach to crisis phenomena is worthy of interest from a rhythmological perspective. When we evoke the notion of rhythm, it is intuitively through phenomena of repetition that we tend to represent it. It thus appears somewhat counter-intuitive to consider the discontinuous and non-repetitive aspects that characterize the evolution of most organized phenomena (natural or living) that go through episodes of crisis, as expressions of the rhythms that constitute them. In the continuity of an earlier reflection on the relations between complexity theories and rhythmic theories (Alhadeff-Jones, 2018), the following text thus seeks to establish how a complex understanding of crises refers to a rhythmological approach and reversely, it tries to open up avenues to foresee how an intelligence of rhythmic phenomena could participate in a better understanding of the complexity of crisic phenomena.

Three principles for conceiving a theory of crises: systemic, cybernetic and negentropic

Morin's article (1976) is divided into three parts. The first part presents the three principles required, according to the author, to conceive a theory of crises and proposes, in so doing, three levels of analysis. The second part introduces ten components that appear to be central to the concept of crisis. The third part evokes three relationships between crisis phenomena and transformation. The present analysis focuses on the first part of the article. According to Morin, in order to conceive of crisis, it is necessary first of all to go beyond the notions of disturbance, ordeal, and disruption of equilibrium, and to consider society as a system capable of having crises. To do this, it is necessary to « … establish three orders of principles, the first systemic, the second cybernetic, the third negentropic, without which the theory of society is insufficient and the notion of crisis inconceivable » (Morin, 1976, p.149). The following sections define these three levels of analysis, illustrate them using examples drawn from the current pandemic context, and establish links with a rhythmological approach.

Systemic level

As Morin reminds us, the idea of system refers to a whole organized by the interrelation of its constituents. « For there to be a system, there must be the maintenance of difference, that is, the maintenance of forces safeguarding at least something fundamental in the originality of the elements or objects or interrelations, thus the maintenance, counterbalanced, neutralized or virtuality, of forces of exclusion, dissociation, repulsion. » (Morin, 1976, p.150). At this level of analysis, the fundamental aspect lies in the fact that any organized system is based on balances that involve both complementarities and antagonistic forces. Two systemic postulates are thus proposed: (1) the complex unity of the system both creates and represses antagonisms; (2) systemic complementarities are inseparable from antagonisms. And Morin specifies: « These antagonisms remain either virtual, or more or less controlled, or even ... more or less controlling. They erupt when there is a crisis, and they make crisis when they are in eruption. » (p.151).

These two postulates can be illustrated in the current pandemic context. The health crisis thus highlights the complementarities and antagonisms that exist in a fundamental way in any society: in the logics of justification that underpin the actions undertaken within the different spheres of activity of society (domestic, health, education, economy, politics); between generations (young people more or less protected from the virus, elderly people more vulnerable); but also between principles of individual responsibility (free will) and collective responsibility (exercise of social control). Similarly, the health crisis highlights numerous disparities within the population, related for example to access to information, education, care, or financial aid. These disparities also reveal potential or actual antagonisms in the ways people think, feel or behave in the context of the effects of the crisis.

The two systemic postulates formulated by Morin thus lead to an interest in the complementarities and antagonisms that are constitutive at all times of a system, but which are revealed by the presence of sharp tensions in a crisis situation. From a rhythmological point of view, we can immediately note that the presence of antagonism can constitute a determining criterion for defining the emergence of a rhythmic phenomenon, characterized by a differentiated structure, motif or pattern (Sauvanet, 2000). In the continuation of Bachelard's (1950) thought, which envisions rhythm as the expression of a « pattern of duality » (motif de dualité), we can, from a systemic perspective, conceive of the emergence of a rhythmic phenomenon as being inherent to the appearance of a particular relationship, at once complementary and antagonistic, between the elements of an organized system. In other words, where there is antagonism, there is potentially the emergence of a rhythm, and where there is rhythm, there is potentially antagonism and complementarity.

Cybernetic level

While the systemic level of analysis focuses on the nature of the interrelationships between the elements of a system, the cybernetic level is more specifically concerned with the regulatory processes (positive or negative feedback) that allow the system to be maintained in equilibrium (homeostasis) on the basis of the antagonisms in presence. As Morin (1976, p.151, stressed by Morin) writes: « When we consider systems of cybernetic complexity ... the machine, the cell, the society, that is to say, with regulatory feedbacks, we find that the organization itself elicits and uses antagonistic behaviors and effects from certain constituents. This means that there is also organizational antagonism. » The regulation of a system is therefore based on the antagonistic action of one or more elements on other elements of the system, as soon as these elements vary beyond a zone of tolerance, threatening the stability, the homeostasis, or even the integrity of the system: « Thus antagonism does not only bring about the dislocation of the system, it can also contribute to its stability and regularity. » (Morin, 1976, p.152).

If we take the example of the COVID-19 pandemic, the processes of regulation, through the implementation of negative (inhibition) or positive (reinforcement) feedbacks, are omnipresent in health, social, political, and economic regulatory strategies. The containment strategy is the emblematic example of the implementation of negative feedback at the social level, based on physical isolation, in order to control the spread of the virus within a population and to maintain the stability of the health care system responsible for the treatment of infected persons. On the other hand, the need for social contact felt by the population regularly leads a certain number of people to expose themselves to the virus and, in so doing, to increase the number of contaminations. When we look at the socio-economic effects of the pandemic, feedback mechanisms also play a key role in the evolution of the crisis. Thus, the strengthening of measures to support people who are no longer able to work and the financial aid to households or companies suffering from the effects of the slowdown of activity are based on the principle of positive feedback. The reinforcement of certain financial flows (e.g., distribution of aid), by counterbalancing the antagonistic tendency inherent in the decrease in economic activity, thus aims to maintain a certain economic and social balance.

By emphasizing the regulatory mechanisms of a system, the cybernetic perspective draws attention to the organizational dimension and the regulatory effects of the antagonisms involved. It also leads to an interest in the nature of the fluctuations through which a system maintains its equilibrium. From a rhythmological point of view, these regulatory processes and the fluctuations associated with them manifest the presence of a fundamentally rhythmic activity. Very early on, in the emergence of the pandemic, the recognition of some of its rhythms was expressed in the analogy with « waves » (or more recently with the « yo-yo » effects associated with the constraints implemented). Similarly, this rhythmicity is very clearly expressed in the statistics of the pandemic, which reproduce in a quantitative way the periodic evolution of contaminations. Thus, the presence of retroactive loops (positive or negative feedback) is reflected in the deployment of a rhythmic activity over time. Conversely, the deployment of rhythmic phenomena suggests the presence of regulatory mechanisms.

Negentropic level

If entropy refers to the natural tendency of an organized system to evolve irreversibly towards dispersion and disorder, the negentropic level of analysis refers in Morin's thinking to the conditions required for a system to be able to reorganize itself permanently, and even to develop its complexity over time. In this perspective, the antagonisms present within a system allow for the regulation of its processes (cybernetic principle), while at the same time carrying within them the risk of its disintegration, or even its « death », insofar as the more they unfold, the more they contribute to the dispersion of the system's elements. Morin thus reminds us that any organization maintains itself either by remaining immobile (a fixed and static system), or by mobilizing energy that makes it possible to compensate for and control the forces of opposition and dissociation (antagonisms) that cause the system to tend towards dispersion. In this respect, the increase in entropy (disorder) within a dynamic system corresponds to an energetic or organizational degradation that has the effect of releasing antagonisms, which lead to disintegration and dispersion (Morin, 1976, p.152). By going beyond an analysis in terms of complementarity-antagonism, or regulation mechanisms (inhibition-reinforcement), negentropic analysis questions the modalities of transformation and evolution of an organized system, as well as the resources available to enable it to maintain itself, and to inscribe itself in a history that also takes into consideration the possible « death » of the system.

With regard to the evolution of the COVID-19 pandemic, a negentropic reading questions the irreversibility of the processes engaged to cope with the virus and its morbid effects on the health of individuals and communities. The deadly effects of the virus are the most flagrant example of the destructive potential of this crisis (on the victims and their entourage). More broadly, another illustration is the fatigue that has accumulated since the beginning of the crisis. It is obviously found among health professionals who are on the front lines of the fight.It is also found in all the professions exposed to the tensions caused by the uncertainty and the deleterious effects of the pandemic (teachers, therapists, social workers), but also in the economic sector, because of the stress induced by the unpredictability that remains. Fatigue thus appears to be one of the phenomena that reflects the result of all the regulatory efforts made. This fatigue refers to the risk of exhaustion of the vital forces that maintain society (households, hospitals, schools, businesses, political bodies, etc.). It gives rise to legitimate fears insofar as the exhaustion of social capacities to regulate the crisis, refers to the release of forces with potentially destructive effects with regard to the functioning of democracy (fragmentation and radicalization of positions, attacks on democratic dialogue, questioning the legitimacy of scientific discourse, challenges to the legitimacy of political powers, etc.). At the same time, a negentropic reading leads to an interest in the creativity implemented within society to renew itself. Here, the example of the technological and scientific advances implemented is revealing of the capacity for innovation and the progress that it allows us to envisage in order to face, at present and in the future, threats of the same type.

If a cybernetic interpretation of the crisis reduces its evolution to the periodicity of the retroactive loops implemented to regulate the disorders introduced by the emergence of a disorganizing event (the appearance and diffusion of a virus), a negentropic interpretation approaches it from the point of view of the processes of (re)organization and the irreversibility of the history in which it is inscribed. From a rhythmological point of view, we could thus formulate the idea according to which the necessity for any system to have to reorganize itself permanently, leads to go beyond a reading emphasizing the periodicity of rhythmic regulating processes. It refers more to the generative (or degenerative) dimension of these phenomena. Thus, the presence of rhythmic phenomena can be associated either with the emergence of new attributes that contribute irreversibly to the potential renewal of the system, or with the disappearance of certain processes that were previously involved in maintaining the integrity of the system. The first case refers to the « syncope » effect referred to by Sauvanet (2000) to account for the way in which a discontinuity can contribute to renewing the « movement » of a rhythm. In the second case, one observes rather the disappearance of what produces the rhythm, because of the dispersion of its constitutive elements. Thus, the need for an organization to recreate itself refers to a double rhythmic movement, characterized (1) by the possibility of seeing original patterns of activity emerge involving a potentially higher degree of complexity (expressions of a creative, generative capacity, specific to the system, manifested for example by new partnerships, new alliances); and (2) by the possibility of seeing some of the components of the system disappear, or the relationships they maintained, through a regressive movement of compartmentalization, fragmentation, or dispersion, produced by the release of antagonistic forces that would no longer be under control (expressions of potentially disorganizing, even destructive forces). From a rhythmological point of view, the processes of (re)organization of a system are ultimately manifested by the reconfiguration of the interrelations and processes of regulation that animate it (e.g., social, economic, political, intellectual transactions) within new assemblages, new forms, which remain in perpetual fluctuation, translating « ways of flowing » (Michon, 2005) and a « movement » (Sauvanet, 2000) that are always idiosyncratic and fundamentally historical and that characterize the evolution of rhythmic phenomena.

Crisis and complexity: Contributions to the development of a rhythmic intelligence

The three principles proposed by Morin (1976) to conceive a theory of crises refer to three distinct logics allowing to consider, a complexivist theory of rhythms (Alhadeff-Jones, 2018) and more specifically a rhythmological approach to crises.

The systemic principle leads to an examination of the antagonisms and complementarities that make up a system. From this perspective, a rhythmic intelligence should focus first on the phenomena of antagonism and use them as a starting point for an analysis aimed at identifying rhythmic phenomena. Where there is antagonism, there is potentially the emergence of a rhythm, and where there is rhythm, there is potentially antagonism and complementarity. Rhythmic intelligence thus refers to a dialogical approach (Morin, 2008) that takes into consideration tensions, oppositions, contradictions, and paradoxes as signs of a rhythmic configuration within a given system. This first perspective also contributes to emphasizing the structural dimension of rhythmic phenomena by focusing on the configurations (structure, motifs, arrangement, pattern) (Sauvanet, 2000) that organize them.

The cybernetic principle leads to an examination of the way in which an organized system uses antagonisms to regulate its activity through feedback mechanisms (reinforcement, inhibition). From this point of view, a rhythmic intelligence should focus on regulatory phenomena and use them to characterize the nature of the rhythmic phenomena considered. Thus, where there are retroactive loops (feedback), there is potentially active rhythm, and where there is active rhythm, there is potentially a regulatory process. Rhythmic intelligence thus refers to an understanding of the retroactive and homeostatic properties of the systems considered, as the result of active rhythms. It also makes it possible to highlight the regulatory properties specific to each system, according to the feedbacks that participate in their equilibrium. This second perspective also contributes to emphasizing the periodic dimension of rhythms (Sauvanet, 2000), by focusing in particular on the cycles, periods, frequencies, or tempi that characterize the repetition of certain organized activities.

Finally, the negentropic principle places the emphasis on the processes through which antagonisms participate in the regeneration or dispersion of an organized system. In this perspective, the exercise of a rhythmic intelligence focuses on the phenomena of variation, mutation, (re)organization, and even transformation, in order to highlight the productive and creative, or dissipative and destructive, functions associated with rhythmic phenomena. Thus, where there is recursive loops and reorganization, there is potentially a rhythm that produces complexity, or dispersion, and vice versa. Rhythmic intelligence is concerned here with the recursive and autopoietic (self-producing) properties of a system, as manifestations of the rhythmic phenomena that participate in its (re)organization. It can allow us to identify the creative and generative properties, as well as the destructive and dissipative ones, which are proper to the system, according to the nature of the rhythms which animate it. This last approach also contributes to emphasize the discontinuous and irreversible dimension of the movement inherent to rhythmic phenomena (Sauvanet, 2000) as well as the fluidity of the forms that characterize them (Michon, 2005), their idiosyncrasy and their historicity.

References

Alhadeff-Jones, M. (2018). Rythmes et paradigme de la complexité: Perspectives moriniennes. In J.-J. Wunenburger, & J. Lamy (Eds.), Rythmanalyse(s) Théories et pratiques du rythme. Ontologie, définitions, variations. Lyon: Jacques André Editeur.

Bachelard, G. (1950). La dialectique de la durée. Paris: PUF.

Barus-Michel, J., Giust-Desprairies, F., & Ridel, L. (1996). Crises. Approche psychosociale clinique. Paris: Desclée de Brouwer.

Michon, P. (2005). Rythmes, pouvoir, mondialisation. Paris : Presses Universitaires de France.

Morin, E. (1976). Pour une crisologie. Communications, 25(1), 149-163.

Morin, E. (2008). On Complexity (S. M. Kelly, Trans.). Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press.

Sauvanet, P. (2000). Le rythme et la raison (2 vol.) Paris : Kimé.

Roux-Dufort, C. (2000). La gestion de crise. Un enjeu stratégique pour les organisations. Paris: DeBoeck.

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To cite this article: Alhadeff-Jones, M. (2021, March 22). Crisis and complexity: Contributions to the development of a rhythmic intelligence. Rhythmic Intelligence. http://www.rhythmicintelligence.org/blog/2021/3/22crisis-and-complexity-three-principles

Metaphors, analogies, statistics, and narratives: Four ways to reason about the rhythmicity of change

Tehching Hsieh - One Year Performance 1980-1981 (detail) (MoMa, New York City, 2018) (Photography: M. Alhadeff-Jones)

Considered from the point of view of thought processes, rhythmic intelligence implies different forms of reasoning. At least four of these can be retained here, corresponding to as many ways of making intelligible the relations that exist, or are likely to exist, between experienced or observed changes (Alhadeff-Jones, 2018, pp.28-29).

Metaphorical reasoning

A first form of reasoning is metaphorical. It puts in correspondence heterogeneous phenomena of change based on images that allow us to think about their organization. It is used, for example, when differentiating « levels » of temporality (e.g., Adam, 1994; Lesourd, 2006; Roquet, 2007). Thus, the distinction between the « micro » level of temporalities of action, the « meso » level of biographical temporalities, or the « macro » level of institutional and historical temporalities is a metaphor that distinguishes different forms of change according to a « scale » that is applied to them in order to distinguish their scope, magnitude or relations of inclusion. The same applies to the idea of « growth », which evokes temporal phenomena (development, evolution, etc.) by linking them to physical changes deployed in an observable space. The reference to « levels » of temporality or to the idea of « growth » thus refers to spatial metaphors that make it possible to describe phenomena that remain otherwise entangled, invisible or imperceptible to our senses. When we consider the changes experienced or observed, from a rhythmological point of view, there is a whole body of sensible or pictorial references that we are likely to refer to. The use of rhythmic theories, developed in particular in the arts, thus offers words and representations (swing, ritournelle, rhyme, motif, melody, harmony, syncopation, etc.) with an evocative power to represent the plasticity, the dynamics of organization and (re)shaping of the phenomena under consideration. If the appeal of metaphorical reasoning lies in the richness of the vocabulary and the imaginary to which it gives access, as well as in their evocative power, it obviously has its limits. The most significant probably lies in the fact that the use of metaphors does not make it possible to explain in a factual manner the nature of the processes of change experienced or observed. Thus, establishing correspondences between images and temporal phenomena makes it possible to describe, compare and even categorize them, but without making it possible to account for or explain the nature of the phenomena that constitute them. The main obstacle of metaphorical reasoning is that it does not allow logical or rational correspondences to be established in a factual manner. In the perspective of the development of a rhythmic intelligence, the use of metaphorical reasoning, using a pictorial vocabulary to describe phenomena, is not only inevitable, but also desirable, insofar as their symbolic and evocative power constitutes a privileged means of representing and formulating some of the characteristics specific to the changes experienced or observed. From a critical point of view, however, this evocative resource must be accompanied by the ability to reflect on the symbolic significance of the metaphors employed and on the limits of the representations they convene, in a given context.

Analogical reasoning

A second modality of reasoning is analogical. Heterogeneous temporalities and forms of change are related on the basis of similarities or differences that emerge from their comparison. The study of analogies between rhythmic phenomena can be found, in a more or less rational and critical way, at the heart of many theories in the human sciences. This is for instance the case in education, where learning and developmental phenomena have long been considered on the basis of the correspondence between heterogeneous rhythms. For Plato, for instance, musical education provided from an early age is inseparable from the moral development of the individual. According to this conception, exposure to sensitive rhythms (e.g., music, poetry) of a certain quality would thus have a direct effect on personality development. Closer to us, Rudolf Steiner's pedagogy also aims at matching the rhythms experienced in different spheres of existence (aesthetic, biological, discursive, cosmological, etc.) with a view that favors a holistic development of the person (Alhadeff-Jones, 2017, 2018b). In the social sciences and humanities, the notion of « synchronization », borrowed from biology, is also used, particularly in adult education (Pineau, 2000) or in social psychology (McGrath & Tschan, 2004), to account for the relationships of influence, entrainment or domination through which certain rhythms (personal, collective, organizational) impose themselves within educational processes or group dynamics, based on the model of the relationships between cosmological rhythms (circadian or seasonal cycles, for example) and biological rhythms (sleep, reproduction, etc.) Reasoning based on analogy contributes to the understanding of experienced or observed changes, insofar as it favors relationships based on phenomena that are often quite intuitive. Thus, the use of the « wave » analogy to report on the evolution of the COVID-19 pandemic makes it possible to communicate an accessible message about the evolution of a biological phenomenon by establishing a correspondence with a universal physical phenomenon. Like metaphorical reasoning, however, analogical reasoning has its limitations. The logics that underlie the experience of physical (e.g., cosmological rhythms), biological (e.g., physiological or epidemiological functioning), psychological (e.g., learning or personality development), sociological (e.g., group dynamics or relationships of influence), and aesthetic (e.g., dance, music, poetry) phenomena are heterogeneous in nature. This means that despite formal correspondences, they are based on processes of very different natures, between which it is not always easy to establish empirical and rational relationships. From the perspective of analogical reasoning, the development of rhythmic intelligence thus implies the capacity to establish correspondences (similarities, differences, causal relations) based on processes of comparison involving the observation of heterogeneous phenomena, present in all spheres of existence (physical, biological, social, cultural world). Similarly, it presupposes a critical capacity to question the nature and legitimacy of these correspondences, in order to avoid the trap of « panrhythmic » thinking (Sauvanet, 2000) which would tend to reduce the complexity of the phenomena observed to the matching of the rhythmic dimensions that they manifest in a superficial manner.

Statistical reasoning

A third modality of reasoning is statistical. It uses quantification and computation to establish correspondences between changes that show some regularity. The evolution of the COVID-19 pandemic has thus contributed over the months to disseminate a rhythmological understanding of the contamination processes, based on statistical analyses highlighting the patterns that characterize the spread of the virus and its variants. In the same way, the increasingly widespread use of sensors measuring and recording body activity (blood pressure, heart rate, movement, etc.) is contributing to the dissemination of an understanding of our health based on the quantification of physical activity, its representation in a mathematical manner (graphs, curves, etc.) and on the correspondences generated by algorithms that can be established between different forms of activity (biological, physical, psychological, etc.). With the advent of research in chronobiology and chronopsychology (Testu, 2008), the study of learning rhythms is also being considered based on the probabilistic correlation between changes in the physical environment (e.g., time of day, time of year) and physiological and psychological changes (e.g., attention span, mood, behaviour), which determine the quality of the educational experience. More broadly, a statistical approach to behavioural rhythms questions the way in which we model the temporal sequences through which certain activities are repeated and succeed one another (Magnusson, 2000). The advantage of a statistical approach to rhythmic phenomena is that it allows relationships to be established on an empirical basis, between phenomena of change that can be modelled. Similarly, it can make it possible - to a certain extent - to anticipate certain phenomena or at least to establish reasonable correspondences between them. Like metaphorical and analogical modalities of reasoning, the statistical approach has its own limitations. First of all, by relating the understanding of rhythmic phenomena to what is quantifiable, it reduces the possibilities of interpretation by limiting them to the numbers, formulas and algorithms it uses to apprehend reality. In so doing, it reduces the rhythms studied to a periodic conception of change that emphasizes an understanding of rhythmic phenomena that privileges the study of frequencies, sequences, periods and tempi that can be measured. On the other hand, by reducing the rhythmicity of observed phenomena to their metric dimension, i.e. measurable, it favours the use of standards (clocks, calendars), norms (units of measurement), or norms (age, frequencies of a behaviour) to capture the observed changes, neglecting all that is of the order of the singularity and the particularity of the ways of flowing (Michon), i.e. what is constitutive of the « movement » of rhythm (Sauvanet, 2000). In this sense, a statistical approach to the rhythms experienced or observed does not allow us to appreciate the qualitative dimension of the changes experienced. From the point of view of the development of rhythmic intelligence, a statistical mode of reasoning complements the metaphorical and analogical modalities considered above. By relying on a computational capacity that can be externalized (formulas and algorithms), it potentially makes it possible to make perceptible phenomena (sequences, correlations) that would otherwise be difficult, if not impossible, to grasp through the senses. The use of this mode of reasoning implies, however, here again, the development of a critical capacity, not only to establish the validity of the measurements and computations produced, but also and above all to point out the limits inherent in the quantification of phenomena of change and their reduction to a metric involving the definition of benchmarks, standards or norms.

Narrative reasoning

A fourth modality of reasoning is based on the logic of explicitation and narration. The explicitation and narration of changes experienced involve both the enunciation of moments of rupture (epiphany, crisis, break-up, accident, discontinuity, etc.) and the description of phenomena that manifest a certain constancy over time, such as habits, scripts, routines, or rituals reproduced in daily life. They also question the way in which the emergence or repetition of these phenomena is part of the life course and the logics that account for the reproduction of ways of thinking, feeling and behaving at different periods of life (Alhadeff-Jones, 2017). In the social sciences and humanities, this type of reasoning is central to the development of the practices of activity analysis, life history, and biographical research. Thus, the explicitation and narration of lived experience make it possible to envision the temporal fabric of the learning, (trans)formative, and developmental processes, by describing their unfolding and the meanings associated with them, in the life of a person or a group (Dominicé, 1990; Lesourd, 2009). The work of explicitation and narration of lived experience thus appears to be complementary to metaphorical, analogical and statistical modes of reasoning. On the one hand, the work of explicitation refers to a phenomenological approach that questions the ways in which language is used to describe and convey the sensible reality of the changes experienced or observed. On the other hand, the narration of experience presupposes a work of « mise en intrigue » (elaborating a plot) (Ricoeur, 1983) required to elaborate the fabric through which the temporal complexity of one’s existence can be organized and meanings given to it. From the point of view of the development of a rhythmic intelligence, increasing and refining the capacity to explicit and narrate the lived experience is of definite interest. The elaboration of narrative processes indeed questions the relationships between language (discursive complexity), interpretation (hermeneutic complexity) and the ways in which we imagine the succession of changes experienced or observed, as well as the temporalities and rhythms they produce. Moreover, the elaboration of narrative processes participates in a particularly efficient capacity to synthesize and organize one’s experience of time (explanation of the relationships of synchrony and diachrony, chronology) which presents benefits from the perspective of identity development (e.g., awareness of the singularity of the subject) and a proven evocative and communicative power (e.g., instrumentalization of storytelling). Finally, the development of capacities to explicit and narrate processes of change can contribute to highlighting tacit or unconscious dimensions of experience, the formulation of which can contribute to processes that are themselves (trans)formative (Alhadeff-Jones, 2017, 2020).

Metaphors, analogies, statistics and narrations: four modalities of expression and development of a rhythmic intelligence

The ability to elaborate, formulate, analyze, interpret, evaluate, judge, or question metaphorical, analogical, statistical, and narrative reasoning is the cornerstone of the development of rhythmic intelligence, considered from the point of view of language and reasoning. This perspective has the merit of highlighting the discursive and interpretative richness that underpins a rhythmological understanding of the changes experienced or observed. It also demonstrates the importance of a critical capacity that allows us to identify the limits of discourse and reasoning mobilized to understand the processes of change from a rhythmological point of view. Such an approach should not, however, hide the fact that the exercise of rhythmic intelligence cannot be reduced to its linguistic, discursive or rational components. The exercise of a rhythmic intelligence in fact convokes all the senses and implies modes of apprehension of the real that do not mobilize either language or reasoning, even though some of them can be put into words and reflected upon a posteriori.

References

Adam, B. (1994). Time and social theory. Cambridge: Polity Press.

Alhadeff-Jones, M. (2017). Time and the Rhythms of Emancipatory Education. Rethinking the Temporal Complexity of Self and Society. London, Routledge.

Alhadeff-Jones, M. (2018a). Pour une approche rythmologique de la formation. Education Permanente, 217, 21-32.

Alhadeff-Jones, M. (2018b). Concevoir les rythmes de la formation : Entre fluidité, répétition et discontinuité. In P. Maubant, C. Biasin, P. Roquet (Eds.), Les temps heureux des apprentissages (pp.17-44). Nîmes, France: Champ social.

Alhadeff-Jones, M. (2020). Explorer l’inconscient rythmique dans les pratiques d’histoires de vie en formation. Education Permanente, 222, 43-51.

Dominicé, P. (1990). L’Histoire de vie comme processus de formation. Paris: L’Harmattan.

Lesourd, F. (2006). Des temporalités éducatives. Pratiques de formation/Analyses, 51-52, 9-7.

Lesourd, F. (2009). L’homme en transition. Education et tournants de vie. Paris: Economica- Anthropos.

Magnusson, M.-S. (2000). Discovering hidden time patterns in behavior: T-patterns and their detection. Behavior Research Methods, Instruments and Computers, 32, 93-110.

Michon, P. (2005). Rythmes, pouvoir, mondialisation. Paris: PUF.

McGrath, J. E. & Tschan, F. (2004). Temporal Matters in Social Psychology: Examining the role of time in the lives of groups and individuals. Washington DC: APA Publications.

Pineau, G. (2000). Temporalités en formation: Vers de nouveaux synchroniseurs. Paris: Anthropos

Roquet, P. (2007). La diversité des processus de professionnalisation. Une question de temporalités ? Carriérologie, 11, 195-207.

Ricoeur, P. (1983). Temps et récit 1. L’intrigue et le récit historique. Paris: Seuil.

Sauvanet, P. (2000). Le rythme et la raison (2 vol.) Paris : Kimé.

Testu, (2008). Rythmes de vie et rythmes scolaires. Paris: Masson.

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Cite this article: Alhadeff-Jones, M. (2021, mars 15). Metaphors, analogies, statistics, and narratives: Four ways to reason about the rhythmicity of change. Rhythmic Intelligence. http://www.rhythmicintelligence.org/blog/2021/3/15metaphors-analogies-statistics-and-narratives

Rhythmological approach and rhythmic intelligence

Sybil Andrews, The Winch, 1930 (Source: https://www.british-arts.com/artists/sybil-andrews/)

Rhythmic intelligence presupposes a mode of apprehension of reality which places the emphasis on the rhythmic features that organize lived or observed phenomena. From this point of view, it involves a sensibility that characterizes a « rhythmological » approach. Since the experience of rhythmic phenomena makes it possible to describe and account intuitively for the way time, space and changes are experienced, both from an existential point of view and in the most mundane aspects of daily life, the concept of rhythm is a privileged entry point for envisioning the fluidity of reality (Alhadeff-Jones, 2018b, p.24, my translation):

The concept of rhythm is all the more relevant because it is a nomadic concept that has been deployed, throughout the history of ideas, in various disciplines (Michon, 2005, 2017; Sauvanet, 1999, 2000). Apprehended based on its etymology and the use that has been made of it in Greek philosophy from Archiloque to Aristoxen, the concept of rhythm refers to a critical tension between order and movement, substance and flow. As Sauvanet (1999, p.6) points out, the Greek rhuthmos evokes both the form that a thing takes in time and the form as it is transformed through time. Referring to a « changing configuration » or a « fluid form », the concept of rhythm thus makes it possible to evoke an evolving order without reducing it to a substance or a formless flow.

How then can we envision perceived or lived phenomena based on the « moving forms » that constitute them (Alhadeff-Jones, 2018b, p.24, my translation) ? 

For Sauvanet (2000), the study of rhythmic phenomena supposes to highlight the « patterns » that structure them, the « periodicities » through which these patterns are repeated, and the singular « movement » that characterizes them, with its variations and discontinuities. For Michon (2005), privileging an anthropological lens, the study of rhythmic phenomena implies studying the « ways of flowing » taken by language, bodies and social interactions, as well as their contributions to the processes of individuation and the power relations they translate. 

By crossing these approaches (Alhadeff-Jones, 2017, 2018a), we obtain a first matrix to study some of the rhythms that characterize organized phenomena (Alhadeff-Jones, 2018b, p.24, my translation):

We can thus try to describe the patterns that are constitutive of the discourse, gestures and social interactions around which [they are] organized. We can explore their periodicity, i.e. the modalities of repetition through which these patterns are reproduced, by looking at their frequency, their period and the tempo that characterize them. Finally, we can understand what makes their development unique, by looking at the variations observed or experienced, such as interruptions, events, crises, or accidents, through which the rhythms [that characterize observed phenomena] are transformed and renewed.

Rhythmological approach and rhythmic intelligence

Based on these elements, and by taking up the definition of rhythmic intelligence proposed here, we can now envisage in a synthetic way a reformulation of what this notion implies from a rhythmological point of view. Rhythmic intelligence mobilizes an individual and collective capacity to know, understand and represent (1) the patterns which are constitutive of the ways of feeling, behaviors, speech, gestures, traces or interactions inherent to any organized, observed or experienced phenomenon; (2) the modalities through which these ways of feeling, behaviors, speech, gestures, traces or interactions are repeated over time; as well as (3) the variations and discontinuities which affect their evolution by revealing the singularity of these ways of flowing. Similarly, rhythmic intelligence implies a deliberate, strategic and critical capacity for adaptation and problem-solving, based on the ability to influence the evolution of patterns, periodicities and movements that characterize the observed or experienced ways of feeling, behaviour, speech, gestures, traces or interactions. In doing so, the exercise of rhythmic intelligence may contribute to the development of privileged relationships within a given environment, founded on the capacity to reinforce resonance phenomena involving the (re)organization of the relationships established between the patterns, periodicities and movements characteristic of the ways of flowing, observed or experienced.

References

Alhadeff-Jones, M. (2017). Time and the rhythms of emancipatory education. Rethinking the temporal complexity of self and society. London: Routledge.

Alhadeff-Jones, M. (2018a). Concevoir les rythmes de la formation : entre fluidité, répétition et discontinuité. In P. Maubant, C. Biasin & P. Roquet (Eds.) Les Temps heureux des apprentissages (pp.17-44). Nîmes, France: Champ Social.

Alhadeff-Jones, M. (2018b). Pour une approche rythmologique de la formation. Education Permanente, 217, 21-32.

Michon, P. (2005). Rythmes, pouvoir, mondialisation. Paris : Presses Universitaires de France. 

Michon, P. (2017). Elements of rhythmology (Vol. 1 & 2). Paris: Rhuthmos. 

Sauvanet, P. (1999). Le rythme grec d’Héraclite à Aristote. Paris : Presses Universitaires de France.

Sauvanet, P. (2000). Le rythme et la raison (2 vol.) Paris : Kimé.

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Cite this article: Alhadeff-Jones, M. (2021, March 8). Rhythmological approach and rhythmic intelligence. Rhythmic Intelligence. http://www.rhythmicintelligence.org/blog/2021/3/8/rhythmological-approach-and-rhythmic-intelligence

Process-oriented approach and rhythmic intelligence

“General Dynamics, Undersea frontiers - Electric boat” by Erik Nitsche (1960) (Source: https://www.galerie123.com/en/original-vintage-poster/36614/general-dynamics-undersea-frontiers-electric-boat/)

Rhythmic intelligence presupposes a mode of apprehension of reality that places the emphasis on the movements that are constitutive of it. From this point of view, it involves a sensibility that is found in « process-oriented » approaches. In order to grasp some of its features, I reproduce below a excerpt, translated from a 2018 article I published in the French journal Education Permanente*. This text summarizes some of the main assumptions that characterize a process-oriented approach and more specifically a processual approach to education and formation. 

*Source: Alhadeff-Jones, M. (2018). Pour une approche rythmologique de la formation. Education Permanente, 217, 21-32.

Towards a process-oriented approach to adult education

Since Antiquity, a long filiation exists in philosophy, emphasizing the volatile and fluid aspects of phenomena, rather than their stable or substantial dimensions. In Western cultures, with thinkers such as Heraclitus, Leibniz, Bergson, Peirce, James or Whitehead, has thus emerged what some researchers identify as a process or processual philosophy, an approach that can be found nowadays in various academic disciplines (Helin et al., 2016; Nicholson and Dupré, 2018; Rescher, 2000). According to this perspective, understanding the world is based first and foremost on the study of the active and changing aspects that make up our reality, rather than on what constitutes its substance. Ontologically, the assumption is that every being (an object, a knowledge, a person, an organism, etc.) is not only the product of processes, but more fundamentally its manifestation. A process thus refers to a phenomenon « that consists of an integrated series of connected developments unfolding in programmatic coordination: an orchestrated series of occurrences that are systematically linked to one another either causally or functionally » (Rescher, 2000, p.22). The interest of this concept is that it allows one to relate phenomena that are constitutive of the real, which human mind tends to separate. Thus, a process refers to a complex set of occurrences having a temporal coherence that manifests itself by an organized sequence of events, involving in turn entangled processes.

Education and training are processes. This goes without saying, and yet it is often observed how they tend to be reduced to what they mobilize or produce (settings, knowledge, schemes, skills, identities, etc.), to the « abstractions » that symbolize them (titles, programs, policy), to the « objects » that materialize them (physical layout, infrastructure, etc.), while considering them, along with the subjects they affect (the learner, the working team, the company, etc.), as stable – even static – « persons », « elements » or « entities » endowed with relative autonomy and an intrinsic « nature ». From a processual perspective, the products, abstractions, objects and subjects that are constitutive of adult education should be conceived first and foremost in terms of the processes (ordered) and dynamics (disordered) from which they emerge and in which they participate, rather than in terms of the forms of equilibrium and stability that pre-exist them or that they express at a given moment in their evolution. From this perspective, the products, abstractions, objects and subjects that participate in adult education, as well as the environments in which they evolve, are to be conceived as being in perpetual movement: from the circadian cycles and seasons that punctuate the curricula, to the biological and psychological rhythms that animate the learners, including the alternating phases of learning, paced by schedules and calendars, social interactions or the succession of discourses, norms and social conventions, through which any educational setting (dispositif) and policy develops and evolves throughout history.

Like so many propellers, each « element » of education – whether formal, non-formal or informal – is in perpetual motion. From a processual perspective, its effects are to be conceived through the flows (physical, biological, psychological, social, cultural, informational, etc.) that are simultaneously distinct, variable and intertwined, that animate it and that emerge from it. Such an approach thus emphasizes the patterns that relate observed or experienced actions, rather than the nature of the aspects associated with them. One can then conceive of a educational process (certification, professionalization, emancipation, etc.) as being intertwined with learning processes, whose repetition and organization participate in transformational processes, whose emergence and succession contribute to developmental processes that recursively influence the other educational processes with which they interact. Such an approach therefore emphasizes what relates the different aspects of education (learning a gesture, changing perspective, the development of a professional identity, etc.) by focusing on the configurations through which they organize themselves over time, rather than considering the states or entities that pre-exist or emerge from them.

Process-oriented approach and rhythmic intelligence

The excerpt reproduced above opens up possibilities to envision the development of rhythmic intelligence. From a processual perspective, rhythmic intelligence refers to the ability to adopt an understanding of phenomena experienced or observed, centered on their changing and fluctuating nature, rather than their stable and substantial features. Such a posture thus implies a critical capacity to question the «substantialist» assumptions that are omnipresent in the contemporary imaginaire. It suggests being sensitive to the dynamics involved in the apparent stability of phenomena. More specifically, it supposes a particular attention to flows, patterns, complex causal relations, and the temporal organization of sequences of events, which are simultaneously distinct, variable and intertwined.

References

Helin, J. et al. (Eds.) (2016). The Oxford Handbook of Process Philosophy and Organization Studies. Oxford: University Press.

Nicholson, D.-J., & Dupré, J. (Eds.) (2018). Everything Flows. Towards a Processual Philosophy of Biology. Oxford: University Press.

Rescher, N. (2000). Process Philosophy. A survey of Basic Issues. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press.

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Cite this article: Alhadeff-Jones, M. (2021, March 1). Process-oriented approach and rhythmic intelligence. Rhythmic Intelligence. http://www.rhythmicintelligence.org/blog/2021/3/1/process-oriented-approach-and-rhythmic-intelligence

Rhythmic intelligence as a specific form of intelligence

The term « intelligence » is borrowed from the Latin intellegentia, which evokes the action or faculty of knowing (connaître), understanding (comprendre), comprehension (entendement). The term derives from intellegere (-inter "between" and -legere "to pick, to gather") which refers to the capacity of the mind to choose, to appreciate and to understand (Rey, 2000, p.1855). According to this meaning, the term is used today to evoke the capacity to organize an understanding of reality and the ability to adapt the conduct of an action. The word also refers to a second meaning that evokes a more or less secret complicit relationship, characterized by a good understanding with another person or a thing (ibid.) One refers for instance to the fact of being in intelligence with a close person or with nature. On the basis of these meanings, the following sections explore the use of the term intelligence to refer to the understanding and the regulation of rhythmic phenomena, experienced or observed.

A capacity to comprehend the organization of reality in thoughts or in acts

The meaning attributed to the word « intelligence » in philosophy, and later in psychology, suggests one to envision the phenomena it relates to as being associated with a mental function organizing reality in thoughts or in acts. The term thus evokes the « whole of the psychological and psycho-physiological functions contributing to knowledge, to the comprehension of the nature of things and the meaning of facts... » found in human beings. It also suggests an aptitude for knowing, the development of intellectual capacities or the act of understanding with ease or having a thorough knowledge of something (Trésor de la Langue Française Informatisé, 2021, para. I.A., my translation). According to these meanings, the notion of rhythmic intelligence evokes the ability to know, understand and have a representation of the rhythmic dimensions inherent to any organized, experienced or observed phenomenon. Nevertheless, recognizing the mental dimension of a form of intelligence does not presuppose that it should be reduced to individual psychological processes. As it appears through the notion of collective intelligence, the capacity to understand rhythmic phenomena can also emerge from shared processes of elaboration, requiring the involvement of several people in the understanding of a phenomenon that would be difficult to apprehend individually. Furthermore, rhythmic intelligence should not be reduced to the treatment of strictly discursive (language) or logical (deduction) representations. It should also be envisioned, in congruence with research conducted on multiple intelligences (Gardner, 1983), through different concrete or symbolic modalities of apprehension of the real, such as those expressed through music, in space, through movement, on an affective or relational level.

An ability to adapt to the requirements of a situated action

As the definition of the term suggests it, intelligence refers not only to an ability to think, but also to the « mental function of organizing reality into acts ». It thus suggests « [the] aptitude to apprehend and organize the details of the situation, to link procedures to be used with the goal to be reached, to choose the means or to discover the original solutions that allow adaptation to the demands of action. » (Trésor de la Langue Française Informatisé, 2021, para. I.B, my translation). In the common sense, the term thus evokes « [the] ability to take advantage of circumstances, ingenuity and efficiency in the conduct of one's activity. » In this sense, rhythmic intelligence, like other forms of intelligence, refers to a capacity for adaptation and problem-solving that involves not only "science and consciousness » (Morin & Le Moigne, 1999), knowledge and reflexivity, but also an ability to feel and act in order to influence the rhythms that make up the physical, living and human environments in which it is exercised, in a deliberate, strategic and critical manner. The notion of rhythmic intelligence can thus be conceived in relation to the research conducted on « complexity thinking » elaborated by Morin (1990/2008) and on the « intelligence of complexity » evoked by Morin and Le Moigne (1999). From this point of view, it can be envisioned as a capacity to establish connections and relations (reliance) that is exercised in a deliberate and pragmatic way in a given environment, based on the exploration and linking of the dynamics and processes through which phenomena identified as complex are organized, while at the same time maintaining a critical awareness of the limits of human understanding. 

An ability to relate, understand each other and be in harmony with others and the surrounding world

Finally, the term intelligence refers to the mutual understanding that is established between people who know and relate well with each other. The word thus evokes « [the] action of getting along, of understanding each other [or the] result of this action » (Trésor de la Langue Française Informatisé, 2021, para. II, my translation). It refers to forms of tacit agreement or relationship, with people or things, that may suggest some form of connivance, or harmony. From this perspective, rhythmic intelligence can be conceived as the means or product of an organized, and therefore rhythmical, process of mutual accommodation and understanding that would contribute to the development or nurturing of special relationships with others. Similarly, it suggests an ability to enter into resonance, through processes of synchronization, with phenomena, natural or social, that are likely to increase the quality and understanding of the lived experience.

An attempt to define rhythmic intelligence

On the basis of these elements, we can consider the notion of rhythmic intelligence as a function based on the individual and collective ability to know, understand and represent the rhythmic dimensions inherent in any organized, observed or experienced phenomenon. It implies concrete or symbolic modalities of apprehension of the real, which integrate and go beyond discursive and logical aspects. Rhythmic intelligence also supposes a capacity of adaptation and problem-solving which implies an ability to feel and act, in order to influence the rhythms that make up the physical, living and human environments in which it is exercised, in a deliberate, strategic and critical manner. More fundamentally, it refers to a capacity to establish and explore the relations and the connections that characterize the dynamics and processes through which rhythmic phenomena, identified as complex, are organized, while maintaining a critical awareness of the limits of human understanding. Finally, rhythmic intelligence can be envisioned through the function it fulfills in the development of privileged relationships within a given environment. It thus presupposes an ability to enter into resonance with others and with natural or social phenomena, likely to increase the quality and understanding of the lived experience.

References

Gardner, H. (1983). Frames of mind. New York: Basic Books.

Rey, A. (Ed.). (2000). Intelligence. In Le Robert - Dictionnaire historique de la langue française (pp.1855-1856). Paris.

Trésor de la Langue Française Informatisé (2021). Intelligence. Accédé le 25.1.2021 à l’adresse: http://atilf.atilf.fr/tlf.htm

Morin, E. (1990/2008). On Complexity (S. M. Kelly, Trans.). Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press.

Morin, E., & Le Moigne, J.-L. (1999). L’Intelligence de la complexité. Paris: L’Harmattan.

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Cite this article: Alhadeff-Jones, M. (2021, February 22). Rhythmic intelligence as a specific form of intelligence. Rhythmic Intelligence. http://www.rhythmicintelligence.org/blog/2021/2/22/rhythmic-intelligence-definition

Four processes to conceive scientific activity

“Drawing Hands”, lithograph by M.C. Escher (1948)

Developing a website is never a simple process. The approach requires one to organize existing reflections by seeking to adapt them to the constraints of the medium used. When I started working on this website a few weeks ago, I had to decide how to organize its structure. I decided to create four main sections that would provide readers with four perspectives to grasp the notion of rhythmic intelligence:

1. The “Emerging thoughts” section would be a collection of reflections whose aim is to capture insights about rhythmic intelligence, the ways to define it, as a concept which is part of a broader theory of human development and education, and to conceive its development as the focus of a dedicated emancipatory praxis.

2. The “Dialogic explorations” section would gather observations and interpretations produced through my participation in different settings, including courses taught, training and coaching practices provided in various academic institutions.

3. The “Resources” section would provide readers with a collection of texts, references and links that introduce notions, theories and authors whose contributions are relevant for the study of rhythmic intelligence.

4. Finally, the “Research processes” section would provide a space of “meta-reflection” aiming at contextualizing the production of this website and reflecting on the temporal and rhythmic dimensions that are parts of its elaboration.

Such a structure fundamentally translates my understanding of scientific activity.

The first section “emerging thoughts” translates indeed a conception of science as an act of creation. It may not be the aspect of scientific activity the most often acknowledged, but it remains one of the most important one. Ideas – more or less formalized – emerge in different contexts, inspired or triggered by heterogeneous experiences. A significant part of the scientific activity is to formulate and organize them. At the core, it is a creative act, as it requires one to establish new relations between existing ideas.

The second section “dialogic explorations” refers to the fact that scientific activity is always based on the gathering of experiences, whether lived or observed. I like to stress the idea of “exploration”, because it highlights the fact that scientific activity is also inscribed in the experience of uncertainty that researchers have to confront, with all the anxiety is may produce (Devereux). Such an uncertainty comes from the systematic confrontation to otherness and the radical doubt (Morin) that may be constitutive of the process through which knowledge is produced.

The third section “resources” relates to another aspect of scientific work: the activity of synthesis, that relies on information and knowledge already existing.

Finally, the last section “research processes” refers to the critical and reflexive dimensions inherent to scientific activity. It is based on the assumption that knowledge can be produced through the self-observation and the self-correction conducted by researchers as they take their own praxis as a source of reflection.

From a rhythmic perspective, each of those four perspectives on scientific activity relates to specific rhythms:

1. The rhythms inherent to creative activity

2. The rhythms inherent to empirical explorations

3. The rhythms that characterize the activity of synthesizing existing knowledge

4. The rhythms that shape self-observation and self-reflection.

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Cite this article: Alhadeff-Jones, M. (2019, October 7). Four processes to conceive scientific activity. Rhythmic Intelligence. http://www.rhythmicintelligence.org/blog/2020/10/7/four-processes-to-conceive-scientific-activity

Video: Rhythmanalysis and Adult Education – Exploring the Rhythms of Transformation Processes

University of Birmingham, Margaret Street. Photo: Michel Alhadeff-Jones (2019)

On May 29th 2019, I was invited by Dr. Fadia Dakka to present my current research on rhythmanalysis and adult education at the Chasing Rhythm: Encounters at the Edge of Academic and Epistemological Traditions conference, held at Birmingham City University. This was a great opportunity for me to introduce my current reflections around the temporalities of adult education and the rhythmic dimensions of adult development, transformative processes and lifelong learning.

Below, the link to the video recording of my lecture. Additional videos of the very stimulating presentations proposed throughout this day can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLA48VtqO8KefP1zNs8kbyY3uFnRx1ZjmU

My presentation is organized according to the following structure:

Part I: Background of my reflection

• Educational biography and transformative processes

• Conceiving transformations as rhythmic processes

• Three criteria to define rhythmic phenomena

Part II: Envisioning rhythmanalysis from an educational perspective

• How to conceive the aims of rhythmanalysis from an educational perspective?

• What could be the focus of rhythmanalysis from an educational perspective?

• How to conceive rhythmanalysis as a method in education?
  

Video: Temporalities, rhythms and self-development

Université François-Rabelais, Tours, France (Photo: M. Alhadeff-Jones, 2017)

On December 11, 2017, I was invited by my colleagues Hervé Breton, Sebastien Pesce and Noël Denoyel from the Département des sciences de l'éducation et de la formation of the University of Tours, to present some of my reflections on the rhythms of adult education in the framework of the Transversal Seminar they organize with their Master 2 students (SIFA and IFAC) (training design, adult education and coaching).

During this presentation, I take up some of the theses that I had the opportunity to present at Columbia University last summer (Second Annual Jack Mezirow Lecture). I propose to explore the complexity of the relationship between time, adult education and self-development (autoformation) based on four axes of questioning: (1) How to define time in education? (2) How can we consider the relationship between time and the educational praxis? (3) How to conceive the temporalities of self-development and transformational processes? (4) How can adult education be conceived from a rhythmological perspective?

Video: Toward a rhythmic conception of emancipatory learning

Maison des Sciences de l'Homme – Paris Nord (Photo: M. Alhadeff-Jones, 2017)

On October 27, 2017, I was invited by the members of the Collège international de recherche biographique en éducation (CIRBE) to present some of the reflections I have developed in my latest book on the temporalities of emancipatory processes. 

Below are links to the video recordings of my intervention in the doctoral and post-doctoral seminar organized by CIRBE and the University of Paris 13 Sorbonne at the Maison des Sciences de l'Homme in Paris.

In the first part of this presentation, I propose elements of definition to approach the concept of emancipation in education. I also discuss the relationship between emancipation and critical theories in educational sciences, as well as some of the paradoxes inherent to emancipatory education.

In the second part of this talk, I discuss the emancipatory dimension inherent in the use of biographical approaches in adult education. Doing so, I show how the implementation of this type of approach reveals some of the temporal constraints that influence the processes of empowerment and transformation sought.

In the third part of this talk, I discuss how biographical research in adult education allows one to study the temporalities inherent in the processes of emancipation. Drawing on transformative learning theory (Mezirow, 1991) and on my own research, I propose to consider the continuities and discontinuities constituting the processes of (trans-)formation and their rhythmic dimension.

In the fourth and last part of this talk, I propose some ideas to think further about the temporalities that characterize emancipatory processes. To do so, I rely on a rhythmic approach that emphasizes the fluidity of the relationship between autonomy and dependence throughout one’s life.

Twitter and the experience of temporal neurosis

Bye-bye (original picture available at: http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2016/01/good-bye-to-all-that-twitter.html)

Recently, I reconnected to my twitter account, created five years ago and never used since then. As I am constantly looking for new sources of daily news, I thought that using Twitter more systematically could be relevant (although I have to confess, I am still struggling with it...) I also wanted to experiment and see how I could use this platform for keeping track of everyday insights emerging through my online readings. The experiment is just starting (you can check my account @alhadeffjones)

As I explore and discover more tweets and more people tweeting everyday, I am experiencing mixed feelings that seem to be quite common nowadays: the excitement of discovering new people (but not necessary new ideas) and the depressing feeling that keeping up with the pace of social media runs against other rhythms of my life (e.g., the pace of family, intellectual and working lives). This feeling in itself is not particularly original; it definitely reveals a broader ambivalence about current technologies of information and communication, already well documented in the media.

The ambivalence of a medium

What seems relevant to me, at this stage of my experimentation, is to try to keep this tension alive and to question the deeper meanings it carries. On one hand, the need for novelty, fresh insights, connections and the excitement of instantaneous connections; on the other hand, the need to consolidate what is already there, to preserve oneself, and to embrace the duration of long term perspective and lifelong development.

The problem is not so much about choosing between one or the other. The issue would be rather to learn how to regulate between openness and closure, instantaneity and duration, excitement and boredom, etc. Those are interesting "motifs de dualité" (Bachelard, 1950) that are constitutive of the everyday rhythms of our lives (sometimes we feel the need to be connected or stimulated, other times we prefer to remain on our own or quiet).

Defining temporal neurosis

Being able to regulate the way we relate to those aspects of the everyday life cannot be taken for granted. Pain and suffering can emerge from the difficulty to manage such ambivalences when they take larger proportions (e.g., compulsive behaviors). For that reason, it may be important to name the phenomenon characterized by the difficulty to regulate such tensions.

As I describe it in Time and the Rhythms of Emancipatory Education (Alhadeff-Jones, 2017), Gaston Pineau (2000) refers to the term "schizochrony" (from the Greek: schizo- meaning split; divided; and chronos, time) to express the tensions people experience when confronted with conflicting temporalities (e.g., family versus working time, biological versus social rhythms), or when we feel subjugated by rhythms that are imposed on us.

The tensions experienced when using social networks, such as Twitter, are of different nature. I think it may be relevant to use the expression "temporal neurosis", in allusion to the meaning given to this expression in psychoanalysis, to go further in the description of such phenomena. The notion of "temporal neurosis" stresses not only the conflicting, but also the ambivalent nature of the temporal tensions that may be experienced in the everyday life, for instance through specific behaviors experienced as symptomatic. Temporal neurosis constitutes a specific expression of "temporal conflicts" (Alhadeff-Jones, 2017).

Revealing our ambivalences toward the experience of time

If the notion of schizochrony suggests deep temporal clivages, the idea of temporal neurosis would rather refers to the state of tension and inner conflictuality that people may experience when considering the complementary, antagonistic, and contradictory nature of the rhythms that are constitutive of their own activity. Temporal neurosis is expressed by those moments when we wonder whether we should keep up with a specific pattern of activity (e.g., checking one's email or Twitter feed), change its frequency (to slow down or to accelerate the way one relates to it), or more radically introduce some kind of rupture in such habits. The term neurosis would suggest therefore a conflict between pressures coming from within (e.g., desire, repulsion) and from the outside (e.g., collective expectations, requirements).

Temporal neurosis should not be conceived strictly as a psychological phenomenon revealing personal ambivalences or inner conflicts. It should rather be conceived as socially produced by the everyday experience of temporal dilemmas imposed on us by the institutions we live through (family, education, work, etc.) From that perspective, the current development of social media is just reactivating temporal dilemmas that have been present earlier in the history of our society. Temporal neurosis represents therefore an 'update' of older forms of symptomatic ambivalences.

Now that the ambivalence is labelled, the question that remains is how do people and institutions learn to deal with such dilemmas and internalized conflicts? How do we learn to manage our own ambivalences toward the costs and benefits of new technologies and the rhythms they impose on us? How do we learn to avoid being captive of an hegemonic temporality (e.g., being stuck in social media) and maintain flexible rhythms of activity?

Some choose to stop using the platform, other keep struggling... what about you?

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Cite this article: Alhadeff-Jones, M. (2017, September 18). Twitter and the experience of temporal neurosis. Rhythmic Intelligence. http://www.rhythmicintelligence.org/blog/2017/9/18/twitter-and-the-experience-of-temporal-neurosis

Video: Rethinking the rhythms of education and training in a critical perspective

Université de Fribourg, Bâtiment Miséricorde (Photo: Keystone)

On June 26, 2017, I had the privilege to give the introductory lecture at the Congress of the Swiss Society for Educational Research (SSRE). The theme of this year's congress was "The times of education and training"; an opportunity for me to introduce some of the central theses developed in my book, in order to engage in a dialogue with the participants of this colloquium. Below are the links to the video recordings of my intervention.

The first part questions the specificity of a reflection on time in education sciences.

The second part explores the temporal constraints that determine how education is instituted, organized and experienced.

The third part questions the meaning of emancipatory education in a context characterized by temporal alienation.

Video: Temporal complexity in adult life and transformative learning (Second Annual Jack Mezirow Lecture at Teachers College)

University of Columbia, Low Memorial Library (Photo: M. Alhadeff-Jones, 2017)

On June 4th 2017, I was invited by the AEGIS for Life Alumni organization (more about the AEGIS doctoral program here) to be the featured speaker at the Second Annual Jack Mezirow Lecture, held at Teachers College, Columbia University. This was a very privileged opportunity for me to discuss some of my current research around time, rhythms and adult learning with students and faculty members at Teachers College.

Below, the links to the video recordings of my lecture and the Q&A session that followed.

Increased speed, ongoing acceleration, and a sense of permanent urgency are common features that characterize the ways people relate to their personal and professional lives in Western countries. The feeling that one’s life is fragmented around activities that remain disconnected from each other, or display rhythms that seem incompatible, adds to a feeling of stress and confusion. More than ever, time for critical reflection and for deep learning seems to be lacking in our lives and in our education, too.

During this lecture I engaged the audience in a reflection around the complexity of the temporalities involved in adult learning. Beyond the dichotomy of slow education versus accelerated learning, I suggested that we observe and question the conflicting rhythms that pace what we do, how we think and who we are. Discussing the publication of my new book, Time and the Rhythms of Emancipatory Education, I introduced and discussed a new set of skills for educators to engage critically with the multiple temporalities of their life, and trigger new opportunities for transformative learning.

An algorithm to measure the complexity of lived rhythms?

Daft Punk (Photo: MemoMorales97; https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Daft_punk.jpg)

Colin Morris (a self-described "unemployed programmer and deep learning enthusiast" interested in "machine learning and data visualization") recently published an intriguing paper titled "Are Pop Lyrics Getting More Repetitive?" in The Pudding, a weekly journal of visual essays. This paper takes over a reflection, started in 1977 by Donald Knuth, a computer scientist, in a paper titled The Complexity of Songs. At that time, Knuth questioned in a humorous way the tendency of popular songs to drift away from content-rich ballads to highly repetitive texts, with little or no meaningful content.

Morris's contribution literally tests Knuth's 1977 hypothesis with data. He analyzed the repetitiveness of a dataset of 15'000 songs that charted on the Billboard Hot 100 between 1958 and 2017. To proceed, he used a compression algorithm (the Lempel-Ziv algorithm or LZ) used to compress files such as gifs, pngs, and other computer archive formats. As explained by Collins, the LZ works by exploiting repeated sequences: "How efficiently LZ can compress a text is directly related to the number and length of the repeated sections in that text." The results of Collins's experiment are very clearly described in his paper through several graphics and animations. They tend to demonstrate the hypothesis according to which, since the 1960s, popular music became more and more repetitive (or, in other words, easier to compress at a higher rate):

"In 1960, the average song is 45.7% compressible) ... By 1980, the year's most repetitive song is Funkytown (85% compressible) ... An average song from [2014] compresses 22% more efficiently than one from 1960."

Discussing the results of his study, Collins explores differences among genres and artists and establishes comparison charts, organized by decades. By browsing his paper, you'll learn that Daft Punk's (1997) "Around the World" is the most repetitive song produced during that period, Rihanna the most repetitive artist in Collins's dataset, or that rappers like J. Cole and Eminem tend to be consistently non-repetitive.

Repetition, rhythm, aesthetic value and the way they relate to society

Even if it does not assert an aesthetic claim, Collins's study brings one more piece to a long tradition of reflections questioning the relationships between aesthetic rhythms (e.g., poetry, music, dance) and the rhythmic features that characterize a sociocultural environment at a specific period. The questioning of the rhythmic features inherent to cultural production, such as poetry or music, has a long history. For Plato and Aristotle, rhythms used to refer to the principle organizing the succession of elementary and complex units composing poetry, music and dance. Their approach was congruent with a conception of aesthetic judgment privileging some kind of measure (metron). As discussed by Couturier-Heinrich (2004), during the 18th century, after the contributions of poets such as Moritz, Goethe, Schiller, Schlegel and Hölderlin, the concept of rhythm appeared again in reflections on aesthetic, privileging the inner qualities of a text, rather than its measurable attributes. During the second half of the 19th century, Wagner and especially Nietzsche reinitiated the discussion. The evolution of aesthetic rhythms was then interpreted as a sign of societal mutations, associated – among others – with the cultural and economic shifts characterizing modernity and the industrial revolution (Hanse, 2007).

Repetition and the quality of lived experience

Beside the fact that it proposes an objective measurement to describe how lyrics may have evolved during the second half of the 20th century, Collins's study brings in my opinion an additional element to the current research around rhythmanalysis. To locate it, I must first reframe it in the light of a reflection around the relationship between repetition and the quality of lived experience. Since Marx's analysis, the "tyranny of time" in capitalist society remains a recurring theme in sociological studies focusing on the role played by the rigidity, the coercion and the regularity imposed through the temporal framework of industrialization (e.g., assembly line, taylorization). As discussed by Lefebvre (1961/2002, p. 340), the relationship between alienation and repetition is both a matter of quality and quantity. Thus, different types of repetition have to be distinguished (i.e., taking into consideration the level of difference and creativity they involve) to analyze their value and meaning.

Working on an assembly line, or repeating every day the same routines within a classroom, may be experienced as alienating because repetition is lived as a source of monotony, tiredness, consumption or exhaustion (Jacklin, 2004). It dispossesses therefore the person from one’s own embodied experience. It does not let room for self-creation, plenitude or harmony with oneself and with the world. From this angle, the redundancy of the pragmatic demands of everyday life may constitute a source of detachment that separates daily actions (e.g., at work, in school or in the family) from what generates them (e.g., impulse or desire), resulting in an emptying out of meaning and the banality of the quotidian (Lefebvre, 1961/2002, 1992/2004). Alienation may come therefore from the separation between creative impulses and the repetitive rhythms of life (Lefebvre, 1992/2004). This is one of the reasons why Lefebvre’s rhythmanalytical project was grounded in the study of the rhythmic dimensions of the every day as potential sources of alienation. (Alhadeff-Jones, 2017, p.164)

Experiencing repetition and the mathematical measurement of redundancy

The contribution of Collins's study becomes particularly relevant, once it is linked to a broader reflection around repetition and the quality of lived experience. Collins's contribution translates an intuition. The intuition that the complexity of cultural production may be decreasing through time, according to some standards (e.g., the level of redundancy of information) or varies depending on an artist's repertoire. In a way, some would argue that there was no need to establish such a sophisticated demonstration to make that claim. The merit of the approach is that it provides one with an objective measurement to describe such an evolution. As formulated by Collins: "I know a repetitive song when I hear one, but translating that intuition into a number isn't easy." In social sciences, rhythmanalysis usually refers to a praxis first conceived from a qualitative perspective: the study of the qualities displayed by the experience of rhythmic phenomena. A contrario, in biology or in medical studies, rhythms analysis is based on quantitative data (e.g., the measurement of cardiac activity). What seems to me particularly interesting with Collins's approach is the fact that it demonstrates the value of using a specific algorithm to measure a dimension constitutive of the evolution of the complexity of cultural productions. By providing an analysis that goes beyond human capacity of perception, it provides us with a richer description of the world we are living in.

Computational complexity and rhythmanalytical research

From a methodological point of view, the idea of using compression algorithms to measure the level of redundancy of information opens up a stimulating avenue for rhythmanalytical research. If redundancy may be conceived as a marker of the absence of creative impulse, understood as a sign of loss of the self (Alhadeff-Jones, 2017), then its mathematical measurement provides us with a relevant tool to compare situations and evaluate their evolution through time. No need for a sophisticated algorithm to know when an activity is experienced as too repetitive, especially when the inconvenience is experienced through one's own body. Things become more tricky when we start considering activities involving discursive practices. Again, it seems that there is no need for an elaborated research setting to determine that working for instance at a call center may constitute a repetitive activity, shaped by unimaginative scripts. But once you want to compare activities, such as those involved in teaching, caring, or helping others, things become much more complicated.

Following Collins' example, we could imagine following a cohort of professionals (e.g., teachers, trainers, doctors, nurses) who would accept to have their voice recorded during a whole day, several days a year, several years in a row. Using an algorithm such as the LZ could provide us with a measurement of the level redundancy of their discourses, how it compares between professionals, between fields of practice, and for the same person, how it evolves through time. I have never been a proponent of quantitative approaches in human sciences, but it seems to me that such a tool would represent an interesting instrument to explore, through different contexts and different periods, the level of complexity of the discursive rhythms involved in one's activity.

Said in another way: In a time when standardization and quality management require people to follow predefined procedures, and adopt standard formulas, being able to measure the level of creativity inherent to one's discourses appears as an interesting way to describe how people learn (or unlearn) to resist through time to the increasing homogenization of human practices.

What about you?

When do you experience repetition in a way that seems debilitating?

What kind of strategy do you implement in order to enrich your everyday practice?

How do you know when you need to revise what you used to do in order to make it more creative?

Feel free to use the comments section below to share your feedback and questions. Thank you.

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Cite this article: Alhadeff-Jones, M. (2017, June 6). An algorithm to measure the complexity of lived rhythms? Rhythmic Intelligence. http://www.rhythmicintelligence.org/blog/2017/6/6/an-algorithm-to-measure-the-complexity-of-lived-rhythms

The experience of regression as a temporal marker

Jean Piaget (1896-1980) (source: https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Jean-piaget.jpg)

I have two young children. As a psychologist, I can't prevent myself to see them growing and compare what I observe every day with what I have learned at the university 20 years ago... Among the notions that I remember, Piaget's ideas around "regression" recently came back to my mind.

Back to Piaget

For Piaget, regression may occur each time one gets to a new stage of cognitive development. As a new form of mental structure is emerging, it provokes a disequilibrium in the way the child processes new information (e.g., the discovery of a new object or a new behavior) – what Piaget calls assimilation – and her/his capacity to modify her/his existing ways of thinking – what Piaget calls accommodation. Such a disequilibrium may temporarily lead to regression, until a new way of thinking or behaving emerges. In this post, I would like however to go beyond the cognitive aspect of regression, well described by Piaget, and question the experience of regression beyond the formative years of childhood.

Everybody experiences regression on a regular base

Such a phenomenon is common throughout one's life. You may be skillful at using a specific tool or technique; whenever you have to adapt what you already know to a new setting, that involves for instance new ways of thinking, you may become temporarily clumsy (e.g., throwing out your hammer when you feel frustrated with the construction of an IKEA bookshelf). More deeply, it may also occur whenever one is confronted to a new environment.

For instance, the first years when I moved to the United States, even if knew how to speak English, my capacity to express myself in this language was far less sophisticated than my ability to speak French. It took me years to feel self-confident whenever I was speaking English in a professional setting. Probably because I was very self-aware and because language remains critical in my work (writing or teaching), this transitional period led me to experience a feeling of regression, considering my feeling of autonomy; I felt dependent on relatives and colleagues to make sure that I was expressing myself appropriately at work (e.g., asking them to regularly proofread what I was writing). Years later, I perceive this period as a springboard that allowed me to develop a specific linguistic skill and, even if I don't master it as well as my mother tongue, I do not experience the same feeling of dependence or regression anymore, whenever I evolve in an English-speaking environment.

Regression is a rhythmic phenomenon

When I observe my children learning and regressing throughout the sequence of activities that constitute their everyday life, I perceive regression as being fundamentally a rhythmic experience. I can see both of my children regressing whenever they feel jealous of each other; there is a pattern of behavior that occurs again and again. We experience regression on a regular base during our childhood. We also experience it as adults (intellectually, emotionally and socially), whenever we experience a gap between a new situation (e.g., new knowledge, new relationship) and our cognitive, emotional and social ability to deal with it. That means that regression is a form of experience that tends to repeat itself through time and throughout one's existence; this is a "periodic" phenomenon. It is recognizable, because it is characterized by a way of thinking, feeling or relating to others, that tends to be less appropriate that the level of adaptation we usually display at a specific time of our life; regression displays therefore some form of pattern. It is also inscribed in a specific time of one's existence. It belongs to the historical movement of one's life; a movement that is expressed by actions that are never fully self-similar. Following Sauvanet (2000) rhythmic criteria (pattern, periodicity, movement), we can therefore conceive the experience of regression as a rhythmic phenomenon.

Regression may reveal the way one relates to one's own development

The experience of regression tells something about where a person stands (mentally, emotionally, socially). It expresses something about the present situation, as much as it reveals connections with the past ("I don't understand, I used to be capable of dealing with such situations in the past") and a possible future ("If I overcome this challenge, I may feel more skillful"). The experience of regression appears therefore as a temporal marker. It is a marker because it draws attention to our own way of being through an unusual pattern of behavior. Also, we all have different ways of experiencing regression. For instance, it can be acknowledged, denied, understood or feared. So, questioning one's experience of regression is a way to learn something relevant about where we are in time, that is, where we are in relation to where we used to be, or where we may be in the future, and how we relate to such changes. If education is about learning and development (among others aspects), then questioning the experience of regression appears as a strategic way to position one's learning in regard to one's development. And because regression keeps occurring in one's life, it also reveals something about how one evolves through time. It constitutes a significant temporal marker.

What about you?

Are you aware of the times in your life when you feel regressing? Do you notice specific patterns in the way such an experience repeats itself? Do you perceive an evolution in the way you may deal with such an experience? Feel free to share your comments below!

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Cite this article: Alhadeff-Jones, M. (2017, May 23). The experience of regression as a temporal marker. Rhythmic Intelligence. http://www.rhythmicintelligence.org/blog/2017/5/23/the-experience-of-regression-as-a-temporal-marker

Transformative learning and the experience of rhythmic dilemmas

Paterson's Land, University of Edinburgh (Photography: Michel Alhadeff-Jones, 2017)

I was recently in Edinburgh to participate to a one-day conference on Transformative Learning theory (Transformative Learning Theory and Praxis: New and Old Perspectives) organized by the Institute for Academic Development of the University of Edinburgh. From a rhythmanalytical perspective, the papers presented and the discussions that followed triggered many interesting reflections. Retrospectively, it appears to me that there was an invisible thread between most of the communications presented: being committed to foster transformative learning may bring educators and learners to experience and question specific forms of rhythmic dilemmas.

Rhythmic dissonance between different organizational cultures

I started my own communication around "The Rhythms of Transformative Learning" by sharing with the audience the "rhythmic dissonance" I experienced when I taught in the United States for the first time. As I described it elsewhere (Alhadeff-Jones, 2017, p.1):

"In 2004, when I moved to New York City and designed my first life history seminar at Columbia University, I had to adjust a process that used to be facilitated over 30 sessions [in Switzerland] to fit within a five-week period. It required me to divide the number of class hours by two. The compression – some would call it an acceleration – was not only concerning the amount of time spent with students; it was also affecting the frequency of our encounters and the learning process that was occurring between each session."

I experienced this episode as a source of dissonance for two reasons. First, because it challenged the way I used to conceive the activity of teaching in higher education in Switzerland. Second, because it confronted me to the political, economical and psycho-sociological issues raised by the requirement to 'accelerate' the learning process involved in my course.

Temporal double binds within institutional expectations

In her presentation on "High Impact Learning in Higher Education", Kris Acheson-Clair (with J.D. Dirkx and C.N. Shealy) also expressed some of the dilemmas experienced in the field of academic development. Their presentation revealed what I have identified as a "temporal double bind" (Alhadeff-Jones, 2017, p.104), that is a temporal constraint shaped by tacit contradictions. In the case presented by Acheson-Clair, on the one hand, the institution (i.e., the university) requires that training programs implemented display 'high impact learning', that is a learning that participates to the learner's transformation, mainly understood as a process that should contribute to their employability and efficiency in the tasks they have to accomplish. On the other hand, the institution requires such high impact learning to be measurable in the short term (i.e., following the training implemented, or after learning opportunities provided, such as traveling abroad). The dissonance appears embedded between two requirements (transformation and evaluation/accountability) whose temporalities are in contradictions with each other: the first one may be difficult to anticipate, as it may require a long duration to be processed by the learner; the second one is inscribed in a fixed temporality, prescribed by the organization and oriented toward the short term.

Rhythmic mismatch between the nature of the task and participants' habits

Sarah Moore in her presentation on "technology-enhanced learning" and Daphne Loads in her communication around "collaborative close readings" (based on the use of poetry and other forms of texts) in professional development, both provided examples of learning activities potentially experienced as disorienting for the participants involved (e.g., university lecturers or professors). The first one illustrated how the use of new technology by professors in higher education may be lived as a destabilizing experience. The second one illustrated how reading policy documents or academic articles, as if one was reading poetry, also constitutes a practice that potentially challenges one's assumptions about the meaning of teaching or doing research in higher education. In both case, it appeared to me that part of the dissonance that may have been experienced by participants has to do with the fact that the activity promoted (e.g., using real-time technology or exercising slow reading) appears to disrupt the usual pace associated with the professional activity (i.e., teaching or doing research). Such disruption may thus provoke anxiety (how to cope with the requirement involved in the use of new technology?) or impatience (how reading poetry may contribute to my everyday practical needs?)

The experience of rhythmic dilemmas embedded in transformative learning

Rhythmic dissonance, temporal double bind and rhythmic mismatch, represent three forms (among others) or rhythmic dilemmas. They confront educators and learners to complementary, antagonistic and contradictory temporal requirements whose complexity may appear at first as destabilizing. On the one hand, in congruence with Mezirow's transformative learning theory, one may assume that the experience of such dilemmas may trigger transformative processes. On the other hand, one has to admit that whenever such rhythmic dilemmas remain tacit or unsolvable, the contradictions they reveal may become a source of dysfunctional behaviors or frustration.

How to make rhythmic dilemmas a source of meaningful learning?

Following my presentation, a participant asked me: "What did you learn from your experience of rhythmic dissonance in the United States and how did you accommodate to it?" Such a question is crucial. Retrospectively, it seems to me that there are at least three key aspects to consider:

1. It may be obvious, but there is at first a need to identify what kind of learning can be reasonably expected considering the timeframe of the training, and what type of learning goes beyond. Some very meaningful learning may occur almost instantaneously, when others require a sustained effort (e.g., self-reflection, dialogue). It is not always easy to determine in advance and it may become by itself a matter of discussion between the learners and the educator.

2. It seems crucial to acknowledge the temporal limitations that characterize the learning setting, to make sure that there is no misunderstanding with participants about what can really be accomplished through the limited timeframe of the training.

3. It is critical that the educator raises awareness around the rhythmic dilemmas that determine the setting, to draw the learners' attention around that dimension of the training.

4. Whenever needed, it may also be necessary to consider challenging the temporal framework of the educational setting, so that it can accommodate the learning objectives that were set by the institution. This point is probably the most sensitive one, as it suggests that trainers (and learners) are willing to challenge the temporal status quo to advocate for alternative educational rhythms.

In my own experience, I sometimes use the metaphor of the vaccine to describe the learning process. Whenever the time frame of the training remains limited, my goal becomes to inoculate some ideas, knowing that whenever the learners may be willing to use them, they may be able to do a 'booster shot' later. What becomes critical then, is to make sure that there is an opportunity to sustain the dialogue with learners afterwards. So, there is very early on in the process the assumption, that learning occurs through a form of repetition that happens on a long duration. What is at stake becomes then to provide the opportunity to sustain the reflection and the dialogue beyond the formal setting of a specific training.

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Cite this article: Alhadeff-Jones, M. (2017, April 27). Transformative learning and the experience of rhythmic dilemmas. Rhythmic Intelligence. http://www.rhythmicintelligence.org/blog/2017/4/27/transformative-learning-and-the-experience-of-rhythmic-dilemmas

Video: Book Talk at Teachers College, Columbia University (March 21st, 2017)

Russell Hall, Teachers College Library (New York)

This is the video recording of the presentation of my book "Time and the Rhythms of Emancipatory Education" organized at Teachers College, Columbia University, on March 21st, 2017.

The video is posted on the Vialogues platform, which allows viewers to post comments and questions. Feel free to post your questions and comments on the original platform (https://vialogues.com/vialogues/play/36021/) or directly on this blog.

Envisioning the rhythms of a transformation

Source: "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" by Eric Carle

Adult development is obviously a matter of time, but could we envision it as a matter of rhythms? How to develop a rhythmical theory to describe how adults transform themselves? Those questions are located at the core of my ongoing reflections around transformative learning and rhythm theory.

Transformation as a discontinuity

Transformation is often conceived as a 'discontinuity' shaping one's life. It may for instance be triggered by a crisis, an event or an accident that brings one to reorganize the way one lives and the way ones conceives who we are and what we do. This conception is at the core of many theories in psychology and adult education, including Mezirow's (1991) transformative learning theory.

Transformation as a continuous process

Another way to conceive the emergence of a transformation in one's life suggests one to envision it through ongoing processes that are barely noticeable, either because they are unconscious or because they are so casual that they do not attract attention; what Jullien (2009) calls "silencious transformations". Thus, the transformations that characterize the development of a child may be conceived as 'continuous', as everyday little changes emerge – often unnoticed – until they eventually contribute to significant markers of one's growth (e.g., the first step made, the first word pronounced, etc.).

Transformation as a rhythmic process

Those two conceptions of transformation do not have to be opposed to each other. Conceiving them altogether requires nevertheless to develop a language that allows one to describe the relationships between continuity and discontinuity. In my opinion, this is what is at stake in the development of a rhythmic conception of change (Alhadeff-Jones, 2016, 2017).

When a butterfly comes to rescue

To illustrate this claim, I have started using the two videos below with the participants of one of my courses to raise their attention to the rhythmic aspects of one's development.

I start with this video, as it represents the stereotypical way one envisions a transformation: the emergence of the grown butterfly out of its cocoon; the ultimate discontinuity!

After nine days of behind the scenes changes, the adult monarch butterfly is ready to meet the world! (Source: Jefferson Lab)

Then, I show the video below, which chronologically comes first, as it illustrates the production of the chrysalis itself; a phenomenon often overlooked when one refers to the 'birth' of a butterfly as an illustration of a transformation.

Change from a caterpillar (the larva) to a chrysalis (the pupa). (Source: Jefferson Lab)

In both videos, what is striking is the rhythmical features of the changes that occur. Time lapse videos are particularly powerful to reveal such rhythms, as they would remain otherwise invisible to the naked eye (more on that in another post!). Both videos display specific rhythms inherent to the changes that occur in the body of the caterpillar/chrysalis/butterfly, but they are more pregnant at some stages than others.

Such phenomena, although quite complex, are obviously not as complex as the ones that affects human's life. They provides us however with powerful analogies to start grasping what is at stakes when one pays attention to the micro-changes that occur through a process of transformation. They display the everyday rhythms inherent to a transformation.

What about you?

Do you know any other examples of natural or human phenomena that display rhythmic features inherent to transformative processes in a way that can be easily perceived by human senses? Please, use the comment section below to post your suggestions. Thank you!

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Cite this article: Alhadeff-Jones, M. (2017, April 6). Envisioning the rhythms of a transformation. Rhythmic Intelligence. http://www.rhythmicintelligence.org/blog/2021/1/19/envisioning-the-rhythms-of-a-transformation

Lefebvre's path toward rhythmanalysis

Henri Lefebvre (1901-1991) (source: www.zones-subversives.com)

In a previous post, I have briefly located the emergence of the idea of rhythmanalysis, referring to Bachelard's (1950) intuition. In this post, I would like to locate the contribution of Henri Lefebvre – a French philosopher and sociologist – around this notion. Since the 1960s, Lefebvre took over Bachelard’s initial use of the idea of rhythmanalysis and started conceiving it as a way to explore emancipatory strategies through the analysis of the experience of everyday rhythms (e.g., Lefebvre, 1961/2002, 1974/1991, 1992/2004).

[The following section is adapted from Alhadeff-Jones, 2017, pp.181-182]

Lefebvre's interest for rhythms was part of a broader concern regarding the quotidian, the banality and emptiness of everyday life within capitalist society. Because all human practices are constituted rhythmically, in terms of a relationship between repetition and difference (Lefebvre, 1992/2004), they provide grounds to study everyday interactions and understand how alienation and emancipation are embedded in quotidian rhythms.

About the social production of space and time

At first, Lefebvre envisioned rhythmanalysis as a sociological method to study the fabric of relations and interactions between social time characterized by cyclic rhythms (e.g., circadian periodicities determined by cosmic rhythms) and linear processes (e.g., monotonous repetitions) inherent to techniques found in industrial society (Revol, 2014). Assuming that social space and time (e.g., urban city) produce, and are produced, through the experience of repetitions and rhythms, Lefebvre conceived quotidian spaces (e.g., streets, squares and working spaces) as the result of rhythmic activities that could become the focus of analysis (Revol, 2014). The emancipatory aim of rhythmanalysis came therefore from the possibility to interpret how space and time are socially produced; it had to unveil how they become a source of alienation. What was at stake remained the capacity to appropriate for oneself the experience of rhythms that shaped and was shaped by the spaces within which one evolves (Revol, 2014).

Rhythmanalysis as an embodied approach

For that reason, Lefebvre conceived rhythmanalysis as an embodied approach through which the rhythmanalyst has to feel and to experiment empirically how rhythms are lived. The rhythmanalyst has therefore to "listen” to his or her body as a “metronome” and to “learn rhythm from it” to appreciate external rhythms (Lefebvre, 1992/2004, p. 19). Focusing on one’s senses, breath, heart-beats and rhythmic use of one’s limbs is required to feel and perceive lived temporalities and to apprehend how they relate to the temporal and spatial environment within which one evolves. It is a work of appropriation of one’s own body as much as it may lead to the transformation of social praxis (Revol, 2014). Drawing a parallel with the practice of medicine, Lefebvre (1992/2004) suggests that the task of the rhythmanalyst is to identify social arrhythmia and transform the way it impacts social life. The approach also carries an esthetic function; to feel, perceive and be moved by rhythms, the rhythmanalyst must also focus on the sensible values of rhythms (Lefebvre, 1992/2004).

Analyzing one's relationship to space as a way to explore one's rhythms

From a philosophical and theoretical perspective, Lefebvre’s conception of rhythm remains often unclear (e.g., the role of measure vs. its free-flowing features), and his interpretation of Bachelard’s intuitions appears superficial (Sauvanet, 2000, p. 167). His main contribution, from an educational perspective, is that his conception of rhythmanalysis goes beyond the intimate and imaginary spaces envisioned by Bachelard to conceive its scope of action within the realm of concrete interactions within society (Revol, 2014). In comparison with Jaques-Dalcroze, Mandelstam’s or Bode’s rhythmic methods (Alhadeff-Jones, 2017), Lefebvre’s contribution fills a gap: by inscribing the experience of individual rhythms within the history of social spaces, and by showing how such spaces relate to the intimate experience of time, Lefebvre’s rhythmanalysis provides us with a concrete path – and a medium –to envision how individual and collective rhythms may relate with each other beyond analogies and metaphors.

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Cite this article: Alhadeff-Jones, M. (2016, November 14). Lefebvre's path toward rhythmanalysis. Rhythmic Intelligence. http://www.rhythmicintelligence.org/blog/2016/11/14/lefebvres-path-toward-rhythmanalysis

The emergence of rhythmanalysis

Gaston Bachelard (1884-1962) (source: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaston_Bachelard)

The term "rhythmanalysis” was first introduced by Lúcio Alberto Pinheiro dos Santos (1931, as cited in Bachelard, 1950), a Brazilian philosopher whose inaccessible writings remained largely unknown. However, it is mainly through the work of the French philosophers Gaston Bachelard, and later Henri Lefebvre, that the notion got developed.

[The following section is adapted from Alhadeff-Jones, 2017, pp.180-181]

Inspired by the discoveries made in physics at the turn of the 20th century, Bachelard developed a theory of the self privileging its "undulatory" nature. Like a photon or a chemical substance, he conceived the self as temporal being that "vibrates", locating the experience of discontinuity at its core (e.g., the divided time of one’s action and the fragmented time of one’s consciousness).

Bachelard believed that the experience of discontinuity constituted the privileged way to access the understanding of time. If the life course of the individual is fundamentally divided, rhythm was conceived as what articulates the discontinuity of lived instants (Sauvanet, 2000, p. 110). For him, the feeling of continuity that humans experience is a construct made a posteriori. According to Bachelard's philosophy, time is felt through the experience of rhythms as a flexible and subjective organization of instants.

According to Bachelard, the experience of time is not grounded in the measurement of objective changes, such as those symbolized by a clock or a calendar. It emerges from the human capacity to relate successive and discontinuous instants of one's life. The feeling of experiencing continuity throughout one's life is a construct and, as such, it requires one to process the tensions experienced on a daily basis. Accordingly, the evolution of the self is conceived as “undulatory”, as a fabric made of tensions (e.g., successes and mistakes, forgetting and remembering) (Bachelard, 1950, p. 142).

Thus, rhythmanalysis aims at finding "patterns of duality" (motifs de dualité) for the mind to balance them (Bachelard, 1950, p. 141) beyond a dualistic logic. Doing so, it may carry some form of healing power. Bachelard's rhythmanalysis aims therefore at freeing ourselves from contingent agitations through the analysis of lived temporalities and the purposeful choice of lived rhythms. As stressed by Sauvanet (2000, p. 107), it does not involve for Bachelard a relationship between an analyst and a patient; it requires loneliness through which an individual self-analyzes oneself through the use of media, such as literary works, which help symbolize and interpret one’s own experience.

If Bachelard was the first one to consider rhythm as a philosophical concept, his approach remains nevertheless mostly metaphorical (Sauvanet, 2000, p. 100). His main contribution is that it draws an ethical framework and formulates valuable intuitions regarding the role played by introspection in regard to rhythmic experience. As he never formalized it, Bachelard’s rhythmanalysis is not a theory per se; it should rather be conceived as a “creative exercise” (Sauvanet, 2000, p. 101). The power of his intuitions relies on the assumption that the unicity of the self requires an ongoing work of self-elaboration that purposefully organizes lived instants into rhythms to tolerate and organize – rather than reduce – the tensions and contradictions they may carry.

Pursuing Bachelard's intuition

Considering the development of rhythmanalysis as a method, the focus on "patterns of duality" experienced in the everyday life, as much as throughout the lifespan, seems critical to analyze. Concretely, it suggests one to pay attention to the alternance between various activities, states of mind, dispositions, moods, emotions, as they may relate to each other. Rhythms emerge from the recognition of the patterns that link such experiences with each other. From an educational perspective, the methodological challenge appears therefore to establish how someone can learn to identify such patterns, what resources are required to proceed, and how such a capacity can be fostered.

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Cite this article: Alhadeff-Jones, M. (2016, November 1). The emergence of rhythmanalysis. Rhythmic Intelligence. http://www.rhythmicintelligence.org/blog/2016/16/1/the-emergence-of-rhythmanalysis