An assemblage can include people, places, technologies, policies, thoughts, attitudes, emotions, expectations, and everyday practices. Rather than looking at these elements separately, an assemblage approach focuses on how they connect and influence one another.
There are different ways that researchers use the term assemblage. In this study, I draw on the original concept developed by Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari in their 1980 book A Thousand Plateaus. They suggest that experiences and actions are not produced by individuals alone, but emerge through the coming together of many different elements.
For example, your experience of university is shaped not only by your own actions and choices, but also by your relationships with lecturers and other students, the learning environment, digital technologies, assessment requirements, institutional expectations, your thoughts and feelings about being a student, and wider ideas about higher education and future employment. Thinking in terms of assemblages helps us understand how these different factors come together to shape students' experiences, opportunities, and ways of participating in university life.
What is an assemblage?