Rhizomatic review: A materialist minor science approach to research evaluation

Abstract

Drawing upon the DeleuzoGuattarian metaphor of the ‘rhizome’, this paper proposes a literature and evidence review methodology that complements data collection, analysis and reporting methods appropriate to new materialist and post-human ontologies. Rhizomatic review replicates the branching and multiplying, subterranean and subversive, endless flows of affect that produce the social world in these ontologies of becoming and difference. The paper situates rhizomatic review in relation to Deleuze and Guattari's understanding of ‘minor science’: an approach that rather than attempting to represent the social world ‘follows the action’. Rhizomatic review is open-ended, avoids setting inclusion or exclusion criteria, follows links that open up during the research process, explores a literature or evidence across disciplines, and engages in multiple iterations of searching and synthesis. An example of a rhizomatic review is presented, and the paper concludes with reflections on the opportunities afforded by rhizomatic review.