The ‘systems of relay’ in doing cultural studies: experimenting with the ‘Body without Organs’ in b-girling practice

Abstract

In this article, I highlight the system of relays between Deleuze and Guattari’s (2010) ‘Body without Organs’ (BwO), the gender politics of Sydney's breakdancing scene that regulate ‘what a body can do’, and my own breakdancing (b-girling) practice. The BwO is not a static notion, but both ‘a practice [and] a set of practices’ through which the body de-stratifies from the prevailing order of domination - such as gender - and refills with intensities that cannot be reduced to the generality of representation. This critical approach invites researchers to ‘experiment’ with the body’s affective capacities, and exposes breakdancing as a salient site to increase the regulated repertoire of bodily expression. My ‘practical action’ as a b-girl, then, deploys a new methodology to both negotiate the gendered assumptions of the scene and locate possible lines of social transformation.

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