Enabling Constraints for Angel-in-the-Making
Melissa Joy Wolfe · 2021
This chapter continues the discussion from Chapter 5 thinking with the subject selection processes experienced at a selective entry science school. In this chapter I explore in-depth one extraordinary high-achieving Year 10 female student&s;s (Angel) educational journey of affective experiences of participation and choice —expressed through lively mapping affections of fear-joy over three years. This mapping highlights the importance of experiences within the ecology of classrooms and involvement in subjects that frame the making of the schoolgirl subject. This chapter draws on Massumi&s;s notions of ‘enabling constraints’. The conversation regarding equity (gender and race) shifts from issues of accessibility and engagement to focus on how schooling plays a central role in (re)producing systemic misogyny and racism in society.