The becoming of a Curriculum Studies Special Interest Group: Reactive, interactive and intra-active complicated conversations

Abstract

In this article we document the becoming of the Curriculum Studies Special Interest Group of the South African Education Research Association. We outline the SIG's activities since inception and theorise the work of the SIG through thinking with the ideas of scholars. For us theory works not as a noun but as a verb, so we prefer to speak of theorising rather than of theory. We also use writing as a mode of inquiry rather than a mode of representation. Fidelities that sustained the work of the SIG were not because of common histories, cultures, and lived experiences but because of the ethical commitment to engage in an ongoing manner with the worthiness of knowledge--a critical conversation about what is included/excluded in teaching and learning programmes (and why). We end the article by exploring how we might re/imagine the SIG as a relational entity/assemblage, a shift from viewing complicated conversations not as interactions but as intra-actions.