For giggles, I decided to look up the definitions to "assimilate" and "disseminate." If you read them carefully, can you see the Rhizome metaphor in this or am I thinking too much?? lol
assimilate [əˈsɪmɪˌleɪt]vb
1. (tr) to learn (information, a procedure, etc.) and understand it thoroughly
2. (Life Sciences & Allied Applications / Physiology) (tr) to absorb (food) and incorporate it into the body tissues
3. (intr) to become absorbed, incorporated, or learned and understood
4. (usually foll by into or with) to bring or come into harmony; adjust or become adjusted the new immigrants assimilated easily
5. (usually foll by to or with) to become or cause to become similar
6. (Linguistics / Phonetics & Phonology) (usually foll by to) Phonetics to change (a consonant) or (of a consonant) to be changed into another under the influence of one adjacent to it (n) often assimilates to (ŋ) before (k), as in ``include''
-s
m
-n
t
)v. dis·sem·i·nat·ed, dis·sem·i·nat·ing, dis·sem·i·nates
v.tr.
1. To scatter widely, as in sowing seed.
2. To spread abroad; promulgate: disseminate information.
v.intr.
To become diffused; spread.
[Latin diss
minre, dissmint- : dis-, dis- + sminre, to sow (from smen, smin-, seed; see s- in Indo-European roots).]
minre, dissmint- : dis-, dis- + sminre, to sow (from smen, smin-, seed; see s- in Indo-European roots).]
Wow, Stephanie, what a great way to engage us students of connectivism and rhizomatics. I'll be sure to use this in one of my classes some day.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I definitely see some rhizomatic patterns in the two definitions. The first for me is "to scatter widely" or "to spread abroad." This is a key feature of all rhizomatic structures which spread like grass throughout any ecosystem. As Deleuze and Guattari say in their book A Thousand Plateaus, when speaking of languages as rhizomatic structures: "A rhizome ceaselessly establishes connections between semiotic chains, organizations of power, and circumstances relative to the arts, sciences, and social struggles. A semiotic chain is like a tuber agglomerating very diverse acts, not only linguistic, but also perceptive, mimetic, gestural, and cognitive: there is not language in itself, nor are there any linguistic universals, only a throng of dialects, patois, slangs, and specialized languages" (7). This is dissemination as wallowing, I think.
Assimilate was not so immediately obvious to me, but I found a key in the phrase "a tuber agglomerating very diverse acts." Just as rhizomes spread, disseminate, proliferate wantonly, they also assimilate, agglomerate, and pull together the most disparate elements. It is an apt metaphor of my life, despite my best attempts to see far more order in it than there is.