Rhythm as Form and Forms of Doctoral Education

This chapter addresses the question(s) of time in Education by foregrounding rhythm. It explores its affordances as a particular attribute that shapes processes and relations through the alternance of repetition and difference whilst spotlighting the spatio-temporal, ethico-political and pedagogical possibilities of rhythmic approaches for educational research. To this end, it offers an overview of the emerging strands of a multi- and cross-disciplinary literature that, drawing from different philosophical traditions, exalt the richness of rhythm thinking in fields as diverse and far reaching as arts, psychology, music, sociology, cultural studies, literary studies, geography and, last but not least, education. The latter constitutes the main focus of the analysis, which proceeds to examine the ontology of rhythm before revealing its value for higher education as a philosophical and practical orientation. The discussion then moves on to illustrate the affordances of the temporal-diagnostic and formal-aesthetic qualities of rhythm for contemporary doctoral education, based on the author’s previous work (Dakka in Inquiring into academic timescapes. Emerald Publisher, 2021; Dakka & Wade in Res Pap Educ, 2023) and her experience as a doctoral supervisor. Drawing attention on the potential for rhythm thinking to enable higher educational engagement in doctoral education, the chapter concludes by re-affirming the value of framing the question(s) of time in rhythmic terms.