As I reexamine the Makey Makey through a new materialism lens, it is important to recognize the removal of separation between human things (minds, bodies) and inanimate objects which are “not separate but entangled with one another, new materialist scholars take the distinction between humans and non-humans to be an important dualism to contest” (Toohey, 2018, p. 27). New materialism views everyday ‘matter’ as entangling with humans with Charteris, Smardona, & Nelson quoting
“[E]ven when we have shaped things into tools, and thereby constrained them to serve our own purposes, they still have independent lives of their own … Things have their own powers, their own innate tendencies … [their] availability … gives them a strange autonomy and vitality. We find that we cannot just use them. We must learn to work with them, rather than against them. We have to accommodate their nature, and their needs, as well as our own.” (2017, p. 812)
I must further acknowledge how the Makey Makey is a vehicle for objects to exert or express their “thing-ness” (Philosophy of the Internet of Things, 2014). A Makey Makey affects a learner’s engagement with the objects and surroundings of their learning environment in an indeterminate way. Users are synchronously affecting and being affected by the materials around them as they create interactive experiences that transform with each iteration. As Miranda Bruce states “the capacity to transform… is imminent within objects rather than being given or always already determined from the outside” (Philosophy of the Internet of Things, 2014). I feel this aspect of constant flux and iteration strongly supports the concept of nomadism, “the subject’s capacity for difference and associated creative opportunities for new generative transformations” (Charteris et al., 2017, p. 811) where “assemblages are always in motion and always changing” (Charteris et al., 2017, p. 812). While a Makey Makey allows for the user to exercise intention by exerting constraints on materials, they are simultaneously being constrained and are affected by those objects which “act, together with other things and forces, to exclude, invite and regulate particular forms of participation” (Toohey, 2018, p. 27).
A Makey Makey is a vehicle of assemblage and intra-action with all material in its surroundings. The use and intentionality behind its intra-actions will always be in a fluctuating state dependent on the user’s needs as well as the relationships and autonomy of the materials themselves. Toohey contends that if objects are what they are “in relation to one another, they intra-act and come into being (on their way to becoming something else) through their entanglement” (2018, p. 29) which matches how a learner, a Makey Makey, and everyday materials can become an agent of change in the environment. An example could be the creation of an interactive story connecting reader, materials, and place. These aspects of the Makey Makey make it a strong technological advocate of new materialism.
(Interactive story created with Makey Makey, MakeyMakey.com)
References
Hill, C. M. (2017). More-than-reflective practice: Becoming a diffractive practitioner. Teacher Learning and Professional Development, 2(1).
Jennifer Charteris, Dianne Smardona and Emily Nelson (2017) Innovative learning environments and new materialism: A conjunctural analysis of pedagogic spaces. Educational Philosophy and Theory, 49, No. 8, pp. 808–821 https://doi.org/10.1080/00131857.2017.1298035
Philosophy of the Internet of Things. (2014, July 4). Miranda Bruce – The Matter with Matter: New Materialist theory and the Internet of Things. YouTube. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzXglBnjCAw&list=PL3mT8q_sZHi7WAaljgR7HpAkOyNiZFxlQ&index=2&ab_channel=PhilosophyoftheInternetofThings
Toohey, Kelleen (2018) “New materialism and language learning”, Ch. 2 in Learning English at School (2nd edition) Multilingual Matters: Bristol
[Untitled image of a Makey Makey Interactive Story]. MakeyMakey.com. https://makeymakey.com/blogs/how-to-instructions/lesson-six-interactive-story-city-diorama-or-poster