There is great potential for the work of Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari in the realm of queer theory, and specifically discussions of gender variance. Their critique of psychiatry, capitalism and the unitary subject in Anti-Oedipus (1983) fits well within the current discussions surrounding transgender and genderqueer experiences including Gender Identity Disorder classifications, the commodification of queer culture, and the challenges put forth to our the "modern subject" by the fluidity of genderqueer. Yet strangely, there has not yet been an explicit, in-depth Deleuzoguattarian ontological reading of genderqueer. This thesis helps to foster such discussions by focusing on Deleuzoguattarian understandings of subjectivity, bodies and politics and how they relate to both gender and genderqueer. Through a method of involution, gender is transformed into molecular gender, into a productive, immanently relational, multiplicitous gender that has substantial implications for gender(queer) politics and activism. / Graduate

Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2012. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study comprises a philosophical investigation into the development of a non-representational resistance against the State, with specific focus on the role of the imagination in both repression and the struggle for freedom. Using Deleuze & Guattari’s non-representasional ontology, the researcher argues that Deleuze and Guattari’s ontological system can be described as an ontological anarchy, which supplies us with tactics of resistance that strongly deviates from traditional Representational or Revolutionary models of resistance. Building on a discussion of Situationism and Hakim Bey’s T.A.Z, the argument is made that these non-representasional resistive tactics could ‘open’ the category of art up to a whole network of creative and life practices – a transformation that has the ability to free art as well as the everyday. In stead of refecting back on a supposed ‘background’ Reality, this resistance relies on the ontologically anarchic practice of reality production. The idea of the non-ordinary or peak experience, assosiated with sorcery, plays a crucial role in this production process, and the argument is made for the use the of these experiences to create a lasting peak experience, ultimately constituting a shared level of peak intensity between people that the researcher calls ‘the revolution of the imagination’. Key words: ontology, anarchy, anarchism, the State, resistance, revolution, imagination, complexity, ontology of art, poststructuralism, Representation, non-representationality, peak experience, sorcery, the everyday, Situationism, psychogeography, geophilosopy, phenomenology. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie studie is ʼn filosofiese ondersoek na die ontwikkeling van ʼn nie-representasionele weerstand teen die Staat, met besondere klem op die rol van die verbeelding in die onderdrukking van, sowél as die stryd om vryheid. Deur middel van Deleuze & Guattari se nie-representasionele ontologie word daar tussen Representasie, wat met die Staat as komplekse en gesamentlik geproduseerde sosiale konfigurasie verband hou, en nie-representasionaliteit, wat met anargisme saamhang, onderskei. Die navorser voer aan dat Deleuze & Guattari se ontologiese sisteem as ʼn ontologiese anargie beskryf kan word wat ons van weerstandstaktieke voorsien wat sterk van tradisionele Representasionele of Rewolusionêre weerstandsmodelle afwyk. Na aanleiding van ʼn bespreking van Situasionisme en Hakim Bey se T.A.Z word daar betoog dat hierdie nie-representasionele weerstandstaktieke, die kategorie van kuns kan ‘oopmaak’ tot ʼn hele netwerk van ander kreatiewe en lewenspraktyke – ʼn transformasie wat terselfdertyd kuns én die alledaagse kan bevry. In plaas daarvan om terug te kaats op ʼn veronderstelde ‘agtergrond’- Werklikheid, gaan dié stryd om die ontologies anargiese praktyk van werklikheidsproduksie. Die idee van nie-gewone ervaring, of die spitservaring, wat met towery geassosieer word, speel ʼn sentrale rol in hierdie produksie, en daar word aangevoer dat dit gebruik kan word om van álle ervarings ʼn verlengde spitservaring te maak – ʼn gedeelde vlak van intensiteit onder mense wat die navorser ‘die rewolusie van die verbeelding’ noem. Trefwoorde: ontologie, anargie, anargisme, die Staat, weerstand, rewolusie, verbeelding, kompleksiteit, ontologie van kuns, poststrukturalisme, Representasie, nie-representasionaliteit, spitservaring, towery, die alledaagse, Situasionisme, psigogeografie, geofilosofie, fenomenologie.

Technology-based music educators are uniquely situated within the shifting landscape of STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) education. This dissertation investigates the lived experiences, perceptions, and teaching practices of secondary music teachers who teach through technology, exploring how they navigate the interdisciplinary connections between music, science, and technology. By employing a phenomenological methodology, the research reveals a transformation from an initially structured inquiry into a rhizomatic exploration, uncovering STEAM’s potential to challenge and transcend traditional educational paradigms. Drawing on metaphors of the tree and skunk, this dissertation contrasts hierarchical, binary models of knowledge with the rhizomatic thinking advanced by Deleuze and Guattari. Music technology educators thrive in these fluid, interdisciplinary spaces, which resist categorization and require constant adaptation. Situated in the epistemological ecotone between music and STEM fields, these educators embody a philosophical challenge to modernist, arborescent models of learning, embracing a post-humanist perspective that recognizes the interconnectedness and relationality of knowledge. The findings highlight how STEAM education, particularly within music, dissolves rigid disciplinary boundaries, offering students new ways to engage with music beyond traditional frameworks of performance and composition. Technology-based music educators serve as agents of change, creating opportunities for innovative teaching and learning that reflect the complexity of the contemporary world. Ultimately, this dissertation argues for a re-envisioning of music education as a liberal art through the lens of STEAM, one that acknowledges the philosophical and post-humanist implications of our rapidly evolving, interconnected world. In doing so, it positions music technology educators as vital contributors to a new renaissance in education, leading the way with their rhizomatic, transdisciplinary approaches to teaching and learning. .

While most orchestral instruments reached their final design in the 19th century, the expansion and redesign of traditional instruments have become increasingly common in experimental contemporary music. This dissertation explores the deep interconnections and reciprocal relationships between musical instruments, their historical, conceptual and technical frameworks, and the contemporary practice of instrumental expansion. It argues that musical instruments are both socially and historically saturated objects, deeply enmeshed in genealogical traditions that continue to influence their roles and possibilities. As a result, they function as aesthetically regulative devices. Through a critical analysis of instrumental expansion and the examination of two key works representing different philosophies of expansion, this paper seeks to problematize the implicit restraints inherent to musical instruments and magnify the moment of instrumental expansion, shedding light on the inner workings of this process. The dissertation is structured into four chapters, with each of the first three posing a fundamental question concerning instrumental expansion. The first chapter, "Why Expand?" draws from Deleuze, Guattari, and Foucault to contextualize musical instruments as territorial entities that demarcate and regulate a technical as well as conceptual field, rendering latent aesthetic values. These values, I argue, are perpetuated by the interaction between performer and instrument, which is codified according to pre-existing aesthetic standpoints. The second chapter, 'What is Expanded?', traces examples from the historical evolution of instrumental ideals, which, I argue, conflate the technical domain with changing notions of beauty. The third chapter, "How to Expand?" presents two contrasting case studies, representing different philosophies of expansion: Mauro Lanza and Andrea Valle’s Systema Naturae, and Lisa Streich’s Pietà. Rather than providing an exhaustive analysis of each piece, this chapter focuses on specific moments to explore their poetic and technical approaches to instrumental expansion. The fourth and final chapter offers a macro perspective, reflecting on history’s unrelenting grip on the present and its connection to the current stagnated cultural, social, and political moment. The dissertation concludes with a brief contextualization of three of my own works, Bricolage, Inquiline, and Relics of Movement, which are inextricably linked to the themes explored in this paper.

Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2012. / Please refer to full text for abstract.