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Introduction

Let’s Reimagine Concept Maps for their Potential as Political Containers

“[The little black fish Swimmy] taught [the school of little red fish] to swim close together, each in his own place, and when they had learned to swim like one giant fish, [Swimmy] said, ‘I’ll be the eye.’ And so they swam in the cool morning water and in the midday sun and chased the big fish away.”

– Leo Lionni, Swimmy (1963)

An illustration depicts a single, black fish who guides an entire school of red fish. The group of tiny fish swim together in a formation that makes the collective group appear like one singular, large fish. IMAGE REFERENCE: Leo Lionni. (1963).Swimmy. [illustration]. Random House Inc., New York.

THRESHOLD CONCEPT:

transformative access (n.): an approach that draws upon interdisciplinary, community-based perspectives to reimagine “access” as a collective process that centers race, ethnicity, disability, class, gender, and sexuality [1]

Click “play” to access an auditory transcription of the following webtext (Introduction), as written and read by Rachel Rubino.

This past autumn, I was enrolled in an Introduction to Graduate Study in Disability Studies seminar instructed by Margaret Price at the Ohio State University. One of the objectives for members of Dr. Price’s course was to discuss the possible meanings of “transformative access.” During one of our first meetings as a class, we reviewed informational literature about the Transformative Access Project.

Supported by the Ohio State University’s Global Arts + Humanities: Discovery Theme[2], the purpose of the Transformative Access Project is “to re-imagine ‘access’ as a collective process” and “constantly unfolding endeavor.” To engage this goal, the Transformative Access Project team “explores innovative methods of gathering, researching, and making.” The initiative locates its ethos in the scholarship of Disability Studies activist Mia Mingus.

The landing page of the Transformative Access Project website cites a quote that Mingus delivered during the 2017 Paul K. Longmore Lecture on Disability Studies at San Francisco State University. Mingus’ call for transformative access is one attuned to the tenets of materiality and collectivity. Within her lecture on liberatory access and interdependence, Mingus states,

“I don’t want us to just make things ‘accessible,’ I want us to build a political container that access can take place in and be grounded in… We can use access as a tool to transform the broader conditions we live in, to transform the conditions that created that inaccessibility in the first place.” [3]

In other words, transformative access informs sites of collective action. Mingus challenges the passive construction of “just mak[ing] things ‘accessible.’” It is “us,” “we,” who build a political container for access to both exist in and work from. Access is not only a container, but also a tool. And as a tool, transformative access maintains the capacity to radically alter what we know, and how we know.

The premise of this project is one that identifies concept maps as sites of transformative access in the making and sharing of knowledge. At a primary level, I am concerned with exploring concept maps for the various possibilities they hold for researchers, educators, and students alike. How do concept maps act as mechanisms that facilitate our potential to recognize multiple perspectives at any given point of a process? If we understand concept maps as a site of transformative access, then we may envision them as a tool that fosters our understanding of ideas on relational terms.

[1] A full definition of this term is located on the landing webpage for the Transformative Access Project. Please see “References” for an extended citation of this source.

[2] This “university-wide initiative” was “created with the goal of connecting experts and facilitating cross-disciplinary research to accelerate new discoveries and translate knowledge into practical solutions for meaningful impact.” See “References” for an extended citation of The Ohio State University webpage from which this quote was accessed and provided for contextual background purposes.

[3] The Transformative Access Project landing webpage (see Footnote 1) references this quote as it was initially published in Mingus’ personal blog, “Leaving Evidence.” See “References” to access an extended citation of this blog post.