Creative (dis)order: intra-actions and insubordination in mathematics education

Abstract

The mathematics classroom is often organized by normative structures that define pedagogical roles, epistemic hierarchies, and legitimate forms of knowledge. Critical research in mathematics education has shown that such structures are not neutral, as they participate in the production of subjectivities and in the legitimization of certain ways of knowing while marginalizing others. In this context, the notion of creative insubordination has been used to understand teachers’ actions in which educators reinterpret or challenge institutional norms when these conflict with ethical and pedagogical principles. However, the question remains as to how such pedagogical transformations become possible in educational practices. This article articulates creative insubordination with Karen Barad’s agential realism, proposing a relational reading of pedagogical practice based on the concept of intra-action, according to which subjects, knowledge, and materialities emerge through the relations that constitute the classroom. Building on this theoretical articulation, the article proposes the concept of creative (dis)order as a way to understand processes of productive destabilization of the normative structures that organize educational practice. It is argued that creative insubordination depends on the emergence of moments of (dis)order in the material-discursive relations of the classroom, in which epistemic hierarchies are challenged and new forms of participation and knowledge production become possible. By shifting the understanding of pedagogical transformation from individual actions to relational processes, the article contributes to expanding discussions on social justice in mathematics education and to rethinking the classroom as a space for the co-construction of mathematical knowledge.